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Former Ultramon User 2009-08-17 17:29
I bought ultramon many, many years ago for use with XP and loved it. In fact, I can't live without it. I've tried. It was painful. There were tears and crying and ... well, it was very bad. Nuff said about that...
Anyway, I've continued using the betas all through Vista and now Windows 7. Like many, many other users, I would have been more than willing to pay an upgrade fee to get a new version of UltraMon that really emulated the built in Vista (and now Windows 7) task bars. Sadly, we're all still waiting. The killer taskbar feature we are still missing is preview windows. They've been promised "in a future release" for years. Like many of you, I'm tired of hearing everything will be considered "for a future release". This is basic functionality in Vista and Windows 7. And Vista IS NOT a new operating system. The betas and RCs for Windows 7 have been out for over a year now and now I'm running the RTM version of Windows 7. We're just back to being sad...and I didn't want to shed more tears.
Despite being a loyal user of (and yes, shameless shill for) UltraMon for years, today I started searching for another product out of sheer and total desperation and frustration with RealtimeSoft (wow, it just struct me how ironic that name is). And what did my wandering eyes stumble upon? A great alternative: DisplayFusion by BinaryFortress. The latest version offers a multi-monitor taskbar that uses areo theme, looks great, AND has PREVIEWS in Vista and Windows 7! (For those in this forum that say it can't be done...uh, no, try again.) Yes, the UltraMon taskbar does a better job of emulating the native taskbar's glowing highlighting when you mouse over an item, but the DisplayFusion version looks pretty good, works, and has the preview feature that I've been waiting for from Christian for many, many, years. Glowing highlights are great and all, but previews are actually useful. Focusing and trully useful and often requested features...wow, what a concept.
And the kicker? DisplayFusion is half the price, only $20. Let me get this straight? I can pay half the price to get the features I really want that Christian has been yanking my chain on for all these years?
The folks at DisplayFusion offer a one month free trial, but they got my $20 after a few hours. I'm more than satisfied.
It's been great UltraMon. But it's not me...it you. While you were the first, and best, for so long....you'll always have that special place in my heart...but, well, I've moved on to a better place now.
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TomT 2009-08-25 08:58
Hm, this is pretty interesting - I'm with you, I would hate to abandon Ultramon, but we have cruised right thru an entire OS (Vista) to a new OS (Win 7), and are still in beta....
Thanks for the info on an alternative.
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Pantho 2009-08-26 02:10
I've also used ultramon since i got my second screen oh so long ago...
I cried at the thought of losing my taskbar when i tried ultramon beta :(
I couldn't cope with the fact that things like Windows Live messenger appears twice in ultramon beta for win7.
Fusion = epic wins ... Sorry to be leaving ultramon, for now :)
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Pantho 2009-08-26 02:10
edit -
Oh yea, thanks for the info :)
I would have spent hours looking for an alternative heh.
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Good Point 2009-08-26 07:45
I too have always been a very fond user of UltraMon. It has proved very useful in the past.
...but I read "Former Ultramon User"'s post and (like others I'm sure) thought...you've got a good point.
While I was reading "Former Ultramon User"'s post I thought...I feel the same...why haven't we been evaluating alternative products?
I have been using Vista for years (literally) and I have now migrated to Windows 7...Am I ever likely to see a version of UltraMon that is able to replicate the features of the Windows 7 toolbar (or even Windows Vista for that matter)?
From my experience the 'Beta' versions of UltraMon seem stable - but they never leave Beta.
The development and ultimately, the improvement, of UltraMon seems very slow. Once where it was ahead of the game now seems to have fallen way behind.
It is also very disappointing that Realtime Soft haven't commented on the above posts.
Before I do start evaluating alternative products I would be interested to know where UltraMon is going (if anywhere).
GP
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Alex 2009-08-26 08:15
I tooked a look at display fusion
It has no Aero Glass and i think its using a timer for the program tabs (slow in and out).
Ultramon works perfectly in Windows Vista and 7 and i dont miss the thumbnails when hovering :)
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TomT 2009-08-28 11:15
No Aero glass? What do you mean?
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SH 2009-09-07 17:16
LOL, the drama that ensues from Ultramon. Grow the fuck up fellas. It's a damned computer utility. You all act like its the end of the fucking world.
I hate drama queens.
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Eric 2009-11-16 07:40
SH, watch your mouth.
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AH 2009-11-16 08:50
Just to add to the choir....I have used Ultramon for many years and really don't like working without it now.
I would love it to be fully Windows 7 compatible but am not going to wait any longer - time to jump ship but I am now officially looking for another solution :(
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joe 2009-11-17 05:31
Listen to your users, fix bugs, and offer the features they need for the latest operating system. Its pretty simple.
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bob 2009-11-17 05:39
Agreed. i keep checking with the site but it seems there is no release planned ... will try displayfusion. i guess they just dont monitor their own forums or the product doesnt generate enough revenue to be interesting.
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TomT 2009-11-23 06:29
Unfortunately, I have also given up waiting for a non-beta release that supports Vista/Windows 7. I've been using UltraMon for years, but things are just moving too slowly, after all, Vista is now old news....
DisplayFusion has been working very well for me, and updates are much more frequent (plus it is not a beta and supports the newer OS's).
I do keep monitoring this forum and UltraMon site to see if things have changed - but not so far.....
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Ryan 2009-11-28 04:32
Will give it a shot. I just got Windows 7 this weekend, first thing I installed was the 3.0.7 beta of Ultramon. Quickly found out you can't even drag tabs to reorganize them on smart task bars. It doesn't group them the same way the Win 7 task bar does, either...
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Falcon 2009-11-28 08:32
Well, I totally agree, that UltraMon should be developed much faster.
But, having a look at DisplayFusion... It has more features, (e.g. one I really miss in UltraMon)..
BUT... It is slower and does things in a cheating way. E.g. the non-native taskbar, which will probably never look the same way the main Taskbar/Superbar looks like (Don't want to think of scenarios with custom Windows Themes...). The taskbar is slow, too. Yes it has preview, but that's all it is capable off in Vista/7, yet. And the extra window buttons sometimes just disappear and don't even look like the original window buttons.
Yet, DisplayFusion has more options, but the - in my opinion - key features do not work as good as with Ultramon. The last time I tried DisplayFusion, there was a preview on the extended taskbar, but no Tab/Multi-App Preview, like the Superbar does. This would be truly inventive. A simple preview of the window, like it was with Vista, is not wort a change to DisplayFusion, in my opinion.
Though, I will have a look at DisplayFusion development in the future. It is worth a few minutes, I guess.
I really hope RealtimeSoft/Christian sorts this out and makes some progress with UltraMon.
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Chrissy 2009-12-12 06:17
All those moaning about Ultramon updates etc for Windows 7. Come on Boys it works with Windows 7 (Version 3-0-7) and I'm using Windows 7 Professional and no problems at all. Don't run away and Cry because it's not been updated yet but be patient and wait. Incidently cut the bad language some of you as there are ladies present!
Lots of love and Peace to you all :-)
Chrissy
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Albert Wiersch 2009-12-17 13:14
Are there any alternatives? Ultramon seems to work pretty well, even if it is a "BETA".
I just switched to Windows 7, and I want to change my Smart Taskbars to show text and small icons like it was in Vista. Right now it is only showing an icon that is larger than I'd like... I can't figure it out but I'm still investigating. I hope it can do what I want.
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