Stardock 2008 Report

Thursday, October 16, 2008 by Island Dog | Discussion: WinCustomize News


Like most companies, Stardock puts together an internal business plan for setting up goals and objectives for the company for the forthcoming year (Stardock's fiscal year begins its execution phase every October 1). As part of this business plan is an appendix that acts as a critical analysis of what Stardock customers can expect to see and what challenges the company faces to better satisfy customer expectations.

For this year, it has been decided to make this appendix available to the public. The Stardock 2008 customer report goes over some of the successes Stardock has experienced but also looks at the failings with a considerable amount of criticism in areas that the company needs to improve on.

The contents include:
  • Impulse digital distribution status report
  • The status on Stardock game projects
  • Stardock's position on "DRM" and copy protection explained
  • An update on the Gamer's Bill of Rights
  • The status of Object Desktop
  • A look at the dock technology now used by Dell and others.
  • The results of the 2008 customer survey report (VERY interesting results)

If you're interested in the inner workings of a consumer PC software company, you may find this document to be very interesting.

URL: https://www.stardock.com/media/stardockcustomerreport-2008.pdf

11 Reply 75 Referrals
angus1949
Reply #1 Thursday, October 16, 2008 10:24 AM

I don't seem to be able to have this .pdf open, nor can I save the file.  Any others having trouble?


WebGizmos
Reply #2 Thursday, October 16, 2008 10:33 AM
Haven't glanced at the pdf yet....but that skin look an awful lot like a skin we were teased with some time ago but with a changed start button.

Island Dog
Reply #3 Thursday, October 16, 2008 10:59 AM
I don't seem to be able to have this .pdf open, nor can I save the file. Any others having trouble?


Working fine for me.

messiah1
Reply #4 Thursday, October 16, 2008 11:26 AM
Very interesting and informative. Thanks Brad.

cavalierex
Reply #5 Thursday, October 16, 2008 11:45 AM
Very informative. Thanks for the behind-the-scenes glance!

Doudar
Reply #6 Thursday, October 16, 2008 1:08 PM
Good read, EA should take note on the DRM section, will never buy any more software from them.

SirBedwyr
Reply #7 Friday, October 17, 2008 12:08 AM
I contest this as an illegitimate complaint: "Requires people to get updates through a specific source (Steam, Impulse, publisher secure website, etc.). This is one of our biggest pet peeves. If a game ships and there’s some bug found that materially affects gameplay, then sure, put out a patch wherever. However, we’ve had users complain loudly that Sins of a Solar Empire v1.1 (essentially a free expansion pack) requires Impulse to download. Publishers have every right to make sure the people downloading updates are legitimate customers." As much as I love Impulse, it's self evident that buying 15 different games and installing 15 different program loaders is an annoyance. I'm getting more than a little tired of putting single-use junk on my computer. Also, the response was predictable. If 1.1 was a free expansion pack, you sure hid it well inside the industry standard patching regime. You should've expected the complaints and expected far fewer if you had marketed it with a name and an offer: "Download Impulse and you get the new wxyz add-on for free!" Goodwill solution: provide alternate browser based authentication for people who are getting tired of program loaders. Fanciful wish: Stardock spins off Impulse and sells to Microsoft; it becomes part of the GfW initiative and a de-facto industry standard.

thomassen
Reply #8 Friday, October 17, 2008 3:15 AM
So, Multiplicity will not be made available for Linux and Mac? As it stands now, the free application Synergy beats Multiplicity, even though it hasn't been updated for at least two years. And the ThinkDesk suite only have two full applications, despite we where promised more. I'm not sure if it's worth renewing my ThinkDesk subscription anymore. p.s. I'm one of them people that are willing to pay for productivity. ObjectEdit is one of my favourites. I'm sad to head it's discontinued. If it only had gotten UTF8 support and fixed the colour bug of the gutter bar I'd be happy.

MichaelO
Reply #9 Friday, October 17, 2008 10:34 AM
Brad, This kind of transparency in the business plan is a breath of fresh air. The Gamer's Bill of Rights initiative is a great thing if it can be implemented broadly, though my feeling is that this may be akin to herding cats. Other than Windows itself, Stardock's software is the longest running title on my machines and will continue to be for the forseeable future due to quality, customer responsiveness, and just plain old value for the dollar. Thanks. MichaelO - Dallas

angus1949
Reply #10 Friday, October 17, 2008 1:47 PM
Very informative Brad. I know we all complain from time to time about software or the website but you guys have been doing an awesome job overall. Growth can be very painful at times, but not to grow is to die. Keep up the great work and congrats to you and your entire team.  

Zargon
Reply #11 Monday, October 20, 2008 9:18 AM

Fanciful wish: Stardock spins off Impulse and sells to Microsoft; it becomes part of the GfW initiative and a de-facto industry standard.

We have some plans for potential integration of GfW functionality inside of Impulse that will give gamers even more options.


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