Impulse is coming!

[Frogboy Administrators]

So you get new computer or restage your existing one. Then what do you do? Some people use utilities that clone existing hard drives. Other people reinstall their various programs from CD/DVD and hunt around for serial numbers.

But wouldn't it be nice if your software purchases were tied to say a single account? You'd download one program, type in your UserID and Password and it would go and install all your stuff. Your games. Your applications. Your shareware utilities. Even your favorte freeware programs.

Impulse, a new digital platform being put together by a consortium of developers, websites, hardware vendors, and game publishers and led by Stardock is designed to do this and much more.

Impulse won't be available in a single form. Instead, it will be available from many different sources including Neowin.net. The Neowin version will be branded to look and fee like Neowin and over time integrate in with the Neowin community to get the latest forum posts, news items, subscriber features, and more.

Here are some screenshots of the default Impulse client:

Stardock has already signed on many of the largest PC game publishers to put their titles onto Impulse. Within the first year, it should have the widest selection of new PC games of any platform and certainly the widest in the non-game area (since there's nothing like it in the non-game area).

It also is including a new virtual platform for developers and users alike called the Impulse Reactor. This platform resides on the SERVER and not on the client which means you don't have to have Impulse installed for a game or application to make use of it. Features like multiplayer match-making, virtual storage, required driver updates, hardware stats, chat, achievements, player rankings, and much more are all part of it.

For users, this enterprise-level design has a few key benefits such as not requiring the user to be on-line to make full use of what they've installed. Impulse doesn't have on-line and off-line modes. It works equally well both ways (obviously one won't be able to update software off-line or play multiplayer).

The Impulse "store" is almost a misnomer in that eventually, most of the items on the store will be free. The store acts as a way for users to assign to their accounts the freeware, shareware, and commercial packages that they want on their system. Whether something costs money or not is irrelevant to Impulse.

Impulse also does not have a system tray item. Instead, it is designed to be compelling enough for a user to want to use it even if they haven't installed any software from it. That's because Impulse minimizes to the Impulse dock (similar to ObjectDock) in which users can put any programs on it.

Because Impulse's key platform elements are not on the client, it is extremely fast in performance, uses relatively little memory on its own, and designed to be easily extensible by users and developers.

Later this month, the Neowin version of Impulse will be made available. Over the next year, Impulse will rapidly evolve based on user feedback - your feedback.

The website is http://www.impulsedriven.com.

Stay tuned. It launches on June 17th.

[+shift. MVC]

So it's like a Stardock version of Steam almost!? Brilliant! :o

GUI looks nice, I can't wait to see what the Neowin one looks like.

[Simon Veteran]

Can't wait to see it, Frogboy :D

Looks really nice.

[Frogboy Administrators]

So it's like a Stardock version of Steam almost!? Brilliant! :o

GUI looks nice, I can't wait to see what the Neowin one looks like.

Sort of. As a Steam fan myself, I don't see Impulse replacing Steam.

For Neowin users, the first step will be having Impulse look and feel more like Neowin. The next step after that will be integrating Neowin specific features into it.

There's one other key thing about Impulse that Neowin users will hopefully like: Users who sign up for Impulse accounts via Neowin who buy something will know that 15% of their purchase goes to Neowin.

This is important because you've probably noticed that Neowin is one of the few high traffic sites left that doesn't have obnoxious ads everywhere. Neowin Impulse would be a way to help ensure that the ads on Neowin stay in the background.

[-Vivicidal-]

Awesome. I really like this idea.

[That Guy Veteran]

Is Impulse free, and you buy the games/software through it, or do you have to buy both Impulse and the software/games?

If it's the latter, I think it will not be too popular due to Steam and other alternatives.

Anyway, at least it has a really nice GUI

[+M2Ys4U Subscriber¹]

Brad, do you think this could be integrated with Steam in any way, as you don't consider it will replace Steam?

Also: What criteria are there for a random developer to integrate their apps, or even their websites into the system?

[#Michael]

Is Impulse free, and you buy the games/software through it, or do you have to buy both Impulse and the software/games?

If it's the latter, I think it will not be too popular due to Steam and other alternatives.

Anyway, at least it has a really nice GUI

As far as I know impulse is free. I have been using it in its beta form for two months now (?) and it is replacing stardock central. I find it quite useful and actually much better than sdc ever was. The only thing you pay for is the content within impulse, i.e the games, objectdesktop, windowblinds, etc....

I am actually looking forward to the NW version.

[Merter]

I'm excited about this, i think you might be onto something Frog.

[Frogboy Administrators]

Is Impulse free, and you buy the games/software through it, or do you have to buy both Impulse and the software/games?

If it's the latter, I think it will not be too popular due to Steam and other alternatives.

Anyway, at least it has a really nice GUI

Impulse is free.

Let me put it this way:

I have Steam. I won't be getting rid of Steam. Therefore, Impulse has to be compelling on its own:

a) It has to be free

b) It has to have compelling features in its own right to justify being on my computer even if I don't buy anything)

c) It can't discriminate against software based on price. That is, it better not make me feel like a tool. It should treat my favorite freeware programs the same as my favorite AAA game.

Brad, do you think this could be integrated with Steam in any way, as you don't consider it will replace Steam?

I don't think it could be integrated with Steam because it's a superset of what Steam does. However, you can drag and drop your programs between the two. That is, if you love Steam, you could put your Impulse acquired programs in Steam. Similarly, you could drag and drop your Steam apps into Impulse or right onto the Impulse dock.

I will be putting some screenshots of the Impulse dock next week.

[+shift. MVC]

Sort of. As a Steam fan myself, I don't see Impulse replacing Steam.

How do you think this will compete with Steam? I can't wait to try it out though, it's awesome that 15% will go towards Neowin.

[Frogboy Administrators]

Anyway, at least it has a really nice GUI

I should also mention, which shouldn't be a surprise to Neowin users <g> is that it'll be completely skinnable. You'll be able to download new skins right from Neowin or deviantART or WinCustomize or wherever. That includes for the dock. This won't be available on the 17th though.

[Echilon]

This is a fantastic idea. Seems like a realy niche in the market, and I'm looking forward to watching the development.

[Farchord]

I dare ask this, but....

Linux version, prz? ;)

[theyarecomingforyou]

It sounds very much like it is overlapping with what Steam does, which strikes me as the biggest problem. However, it sounds like a really good idea and I look forward to trying it out. I suppose in my ideal world I'd like to see Valve buy Stardock and merge Impulse with Steam to create THE definite application / user experience, though I'm not sure how much Stardock would actually like that - no offense intended.

[metallithrax]

So can I add a program, say Far Cry, that I already own on disc to Impulse and (if the developer is signed up obviously) it would be reinstalled along with those that I bought through Impulse?

[Frogboy Administrators]

It sounds very much like it is overlapping with what Steam does, which strikes me as the biggest problem. However, it sounds like a really good idea and I look forward to trying it out. I suppose in my ideal world I'd like to see Valve buy Stardock and merge Impulse with Steam to create THE definite application / user experience, though I'm not sure how much Stardock would actually like that - no offense intended.

Oh, I don't think you'd want the two merged.

You'd effectively be creating a monopoly. I am sure even Walmart seemed cute and cuddly at one time. And I still remember when Microsoft was the little upstart against IBM.

Let me put it this way, imagine if there was only Impulse or there was only Steam and then one day this Valve/Stardock team was bought up by say News Corp. or Disney or GE. THEN how great would we all feel about one "thing" dominating the emerging market? :)

Plus, Stardock is larger than Valve (in # of employees and revenue) so I don't think Valve would be likely to buy Stardock anyway. :)

They don't have a lot of competing features anyway. For instance, Impulse is designed to distributed by anyone. One could imagine how cool a Steam would be if it integrated features from Neowin but it wasn't designed that way. Impulse was. So Neowin users can have a lot of say over what goes in the Neowin version.

[Kudos Veteran]

Plus, Stardock is larger than Valve (in # of employees and revenue) so I don't think Valve would be likely to buy Stardock anyway. :)

Wow! I wasn't aware that Stardock were so big, I'm impressed. I suppose Valve would tend to steal your thunder with the iconic HL series.

[Frogboy Administrators]

So can I add a program, say Far Cry, that I already own on disc to Impulse and (if the developer is signed up obviously) it would be reinstalled along with those that I bought through Impulse?

Precisely.

Impulse doesn't care where you got the game. As long as your account has a particular piece of software associated with it, you can re-download it via Impulse regardless of where you bought it.

For example, imagine if you bought Unreal Tournament from Steam. You could, assuming Epic signed on for this, download and update Unreal Tournmanet via Impulse.

That's because Impulse is designed first and foremost to be a platform and not a store.

Think of all the things about the PC that are annoying to you. Things you wish Microsoft would fix. Why can't I register all my software with a global account registry? Why am I messing around with ports and NATs in 2008 to get a freaking PC game working? Why can't I easily find a multiplayer match to play? Why aren't virtual drives part of the OS? Windows Live does all kinds of nice stuff but it's not part of the OS and there's no incentive for software developers to try to reverse engineer how to make use of it. Why aren't my preferences, saved games, global support, etc. part of it?

I mean seriously, it's 2008, why doesn't Windows Vista do this sort of thing for me?

A lot of it is because of the DOJ. Microsoft can't even bundle a media player with the OS without getting sued these days.

Obviously, Stardock alone can't solve this. Stardock's a tiny blip. But what it can do is partner up with game developers and publishers, software developers, PC makers, etc. to build a virtual PC platform and that's what it's been doing for the past year and a half.

Here on Neowin, we have some of the most knowledgeable, techs savvy users in the world. Neowin is the go-to tech site for millions of people. We can, as a community, help put into this platform which has industry support the kinds of things we wish were part of the OS.

[Rappy Veteran]

Thats rather awesome, look forward to seeing more!

[Frogboy Administrators]

Wow! I wasn't aware that Stardock were so big, I'm impressed. I suppose Valve would tend to steal your thunder with the iconic HL series.

Who can blame Valve though? TF2 is awesome. Portal is awesome. Valve had made some of the best games of all time. And plus, Valve's CEO doesn't hang out on forums like I do so that tends to change the size perception. :)

But yea, according to NPD, Stardock's one of the 10 largest PC game publishers in North America. Here's the most recent sales charts I could find (reposted on a blog).

The fan base of Valve and Steam is pretty huge so I'm sure there will be plenty of people who will think Impulse is some sort of "steam killer" and it's not. That's not what it's for. Steam has 15 million accounts (according to Valve) which is a good start. But these platforms need 100 million users or more before one could consider them remotely entrenched.

In other words, Steam, Impulse, etc. will need to get a total user base than a moderately popular website gets in a single month before they're anything remotely approaching critical mass.

[metallithrax]

I mean seriously, it's 2008, why doesn't Windows Vista do this sort of thing for me?

You specifically mention Vista here, so does this mean it is Vista only? What are the requirements?

[Frogboy Administrators]

You specifically mention Vista here, so does this mean it is Vista only? What are the requirements?

XP or Vista.

My point was just that when Microsoft released Windows Vista, I had hoped they were going to do something like this. Now, from talking to them, it's apparent that nothing like this is forthcoming and I understand why (i.e. Microsoft gets sued for including a media player with the OS, imagine if they did something like this).

[metallithrax]

XP or Vista.

My point was just that when Microsoft released Windows Vista, I had hoped they were going to do something like this. Now, from talking to them, it's apparent that nothing like this is forthcoming and I understand why (i.e. Microsoft gets sued for including a media player with the OS, imagine if they did something like this).

OH, my mistake. Didn't really read the follow up sentence. Now I have re-read it I see what you said.

[colealtdelete]

Def seems interesting! :blink: