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VDM also messes up FullShot, which I use for screen captures. After I
installed VDM, I had to uninstall almost immediately.
On Thu, Jul 24, 2008 at 12:55 PM, McLauchlan, Kevin <
Kevin -dot- McLauchlan -at- safenet-inc -dot- com> wrote:
> Here's the deal-killer that I just confirmed:
>
> MS Virtual Desktop Manager powertoy messes up Madcap Flare.
> When returning to a virtual desktop containing Flare, the Flare window
> displays the center pane (editing) and the toolbars, but loses the left
> and right panes (Project Organizer, Content Explorer, Concept Explorer,
> etc., stacked in accordion tabs on the left, and Find in Files, Find and
> Replace, and dynamic Help on the right). That is, the panes remain,
> but they are blank... unpopulated. Selecting and de-selecting the
> various items from the pull-down menu does not bring them back.
> Refreshing the screen does not bring them back. Minimizing and restoring
> Flare does not bring back the contents of the two side panes. Only
> closing and re-launching the program seems to do the trick. I've
> uninstalled MSVDM powertoy from my 32-bit Windows XP Pro SP2 computer.
> I think the review is finally done. :-)
>
> I'm back to my regular dual-monitor single desktop, enhanced with the
> improved Alt-tab powertoy.
>
> - Kevin
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From:
> techwr-l-bounces+kevin -dot- mclauchlan=safenet-inc -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> >
> [mailto:techwr-l-bounces+kevin.mclauchlan<techwr-l-bounces%2Bkevin.mclauchlan>
> =safenet-inc -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-
> > l.com] On Behalf Of McLauchlan, Kevin
> > Sent: Thursday, July 24, 2008 11:57
> > To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> > Subject: [TOOLS] Review/user comments of MS Virtual Destop Manager
> > powertoy
> >
> > Perhaps the following observations will be useful to somebody on the
> > list.
> >
> > Last week, I talked about the crowding of my Windows desktop, and the
> > difficulty of finding stuff that I want to navigate to, versus the
> > inconvenience of frequently closing everything that's not related to
> the
> > current (this five minutes) task. Several people admitted similar
> > concerns. Some had suggestions.
> >
> > A list-member recommended a couple of Windows XP Power Toys -
> > unsupported goodies developed by Microsoft programmers as fun
> projects,
> > and provided on the MS website, but without official support. In
> other
> > words, they work as advertised, and don't break anything, but
> Microsoft
> > doesn't promise anything - they are provided "as-is".
> >
> >
> >
> > One was Taskswitch, a simple enhancement of the "Alt-tab" function to
> > add thumbnail views of application instances, so that [Alt][Tab]ing to
> > another task becomes less of a guessing game. That one works fine,
> with
> > one exception...
> >
> >
> >
> > The other PowerToy is Virtual Desktop Manager. At first glance, MSVDM
> > looks like it should be the answer to the Linux/UNIX multiple desktop
> > capability, as I (appreciatively) experience it via KDE (and
> > occasionally via GNOME, when I'm in a frivolous and non-KDE mood).
> >
> >
> >
> > However, after using it for a week, I find VDM lacking and annoying...
> > at least for anybody who is accustomed to spreading their work and
> play
> > among two, four, or more semi-independent desktops within a Linux
> > graphical session.
> >
> >
> >
> > VDM does create multiple virtual desktops that are visually separate
> > from each other, with one visible at any one time and the others
> hidden,
> > until you select a hidden one via its little numbered icon in the VDM
> > section of the Windows toolbar. That part seems good and acts much
> like
> > I'd expect from years of experience running four desktops in my Linux
> > KDE sessions.
> >
> >
> >
> > VDM appears to have two modes: Shared Desktop or... not.
> >
> >
> >
> > If Shared Desktop is on, all the windows/tasks from all your desktops
> > are represented in the taskbar at the bottom of every virtual desktop,
> > AND if you click one of those tasks/icons, the associated window
> springs
> > to life... on the current desktop. It does so whether it was already
> > part of that desktop or part of another. This action rather defeats
> the
> > desire to organize your tasks/windows in groups, per desktop. The
> > correct action, according to me, would be to switch desktops while
> > presenting the desired window/task.
> >
> >
> >
> > If you switch off Shared Desktop, then the tasks become
> > confined/isolated to the desktop on which they were originally opened.
> > However, the taskbar below each desktop now reflects only what lives
> on
> > that desktop. As well, the [Alt][Tab] function works only within the
> > current virtual desktop. You have to remember which other desktops
> hold
> > your various tasks and windows. Unlike in KDE/Linux, there's no
> option
> > (that I've found) to right-click a window frame and "send" it to
> another
> > desktop where it's better suited. If you want to move a window
> between
> > desktops, you need to switch on Shared Desktops, go to the desired
> > desktop, click the task for that window, to launch it in its new
> place,
> > and then switch off Shared Desktops again.
> >
> >
> >
> > In addition, the KDE virtual-desktop switcher shows little thumbnails
> of
> > your desktops, so you have visual reminder of what's on each one,
> before
> > you click to transfer-your-viewpoint/bring-up-a-different-desktop. As
> > well, if you elect to have all your apps/tasks appear in every KDE
> > desktop taskbar, they'll tell you which desktop they belong to.
> >
> > As well, there are hot-key options for jumping instantly among your
> > desktops, AND you can have a different background color or photo for
> > each one, as an aid to recognizing where you are at any moment. I
> > haven't found anything like that in VDM. Change one background, and it
> > changes... but jump to another desktop with the original background,
> and
> > the original background is still there (sounds good so far) then jump
> > back to the changed desktop... and the original background (that's on
> > all the other virtual desktops) is back. I'll experiment a little
> more,
> > but I think that's the way it is. Changing a photo background to a
> > less-graphically-demanding single color requires doing so for each and
> > every desktop.
> >
> >
> >
> > Furthermore, even with its additional capabilities, KDE seems to make
> > more efficient use of video memory. VDM has been quite slow to
> populate
> > the new desktop each time I jump. My video card has 256MB of its own
> > memory, and I'm not doing anything graphically fancy with any
> > application (no games or videos or 3D rendering on my system)..
> >
> >
> >
> > Some of these things that I've been highlighting as deficiencies might
> > be just my lack of familiarity with the program, but the "Help" is
> just
> > three paragraphs, leading me to believe that I've seen all the
> > capability and flexibility that exists to be seen.
> >
> >
> >
> > Anyway, if I hadn't been using the KDE/Linux implementation for years,
> > perhaps I would not find the VDM implementation so clunky.
> >
> > Granted, KDE is a full desktop environment with all sorts of
> integrated
> > functions, and an open api and interface. VDM is a little add-on to
> > Windows, created as a gift, in someone's part-time off hours. So, the
> > comparison is not fair. VDM might be useful to Windows-only users who
> > have never experienced "the real thing" and don't have a nagging
> > comparison always at the back of their minds. On the third hand, KDE
> > (and all of Linux) costs no more than did MSVDM - which is to say,
> free,
> > gratis, zero - and KDE gets frequent updates. It also works on 64-bit
> > machines running 64-bit OS, which MSVDM doesn't.
>
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