Frogboy

Join Date 03/2001

+2419

Talisman vs. Aston shootout

Aston and Talisman are replacement shells for Windows that compete head to head.

We are looking for advocates on both sides to put together reasonably detailed reviews of both products (pros and cons). The results we'll publish her on WinCustomize to give users an idea of what these shells are about.

In my view, both of them have reached that "maturity" level where they can be used by the non-hard core techie types. Comment on this thread with a link to a head to head and whether you want us to repost it (i.e. host) the review or just link to your head to head review.

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I first tried Aston and Talisman about three or four years ago. Aston struck me as being more stable, while Talisman seemed to be good at crashing out. Since then both programs have added features.

The difference is that Aston is STABLE. Rock-solid stable. Aston has an easy learning curve, and has the benefit of having MANY plugins, which likewise are stable. Talisman, while it DOES do more (theoretically Aston can be made to do everything that Talisman does eye-candy wise), Talisman just does NOT appeal to me. Aston is what it needs to be, and does NOT try to impress you with things it does NOT need. Talisman is a good shell in looks ONLY. I bought a copy of Aston, and have never regretted it. Talisman leaves me feeling... well, kind of shallow.

My $.02

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Frogboy

Join Date 03/2001

+2419

Yes but it's not fair to compare where they were 3 or 4 years ago. We need to know where they are today.

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Not a head-to-head review, but two articles on Gladiator Soft/Aston.

http://shell-shocked.org/article.php?id=187
http://shell-shocked.org/article.php?id=183

Note that the author, Sacrat, is totally in love with Aston and despises Talisman, so it's not too balanced.

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Frogboy

Join Date 03/2001

+2419

I went ahead and spent the evening putting the latest versions through their paces.

IMO:

AstonShell is significantly better than the current Talisman.

Things going against Talisman:
- Felt sluggish
- Default themes buggy
- Style over substance (i.e. everything seems to be made to look pretty in a screenshot rather than actually work well)
- Poor system tray support
- Shell is less featured in core areas than Explorer (no drag and drop off menus, no taskbar grouping, etc.)
- Seems complicated to customize

Aston, by contrast had these points:
+ Felt snappy and fast
+ Seemed more polished
+ Seemed less system specific. The themes worked better on my system (taskbars didn't get messed up simply because I was running a lot of tasks)
+ Good system tray support
+ Theme chooser more straight forward
+ Easier to undertand

Going against Aston was:
- Felt less powerful than Explorer (no taskbar grouping and other things)
- Lost my desktop icons you don't really have a "Desktop" anymore as far as I could tell
- Goofy default directory c:\aston
- Includes a quasi-warez theme in there (Aqua theme compelte with Apple logo)
- Themes feel pretty static (like Talisman). No drag and drop anywhere.

Overall, Aston felt closest to being a professional level product. I don't think I'd use either one on a regular basis (I really don't like them taking away my desktop icons). The main reason though is that I'm used to Explorer so I'm more interested in extending that rather than replacing it.

But I can definitely see why Aston is preferred by many.

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I have your solution for your desktop icons.

Go to Aston Setup, the Desktop option, and click on "Get Explorer Icons". Voila! You have your icons back.

Of course, Aston offers .png support for icons, so just make my own anyway

And I agree the skin you mentioned IS bad. There's plenty of GREAT ones though, available at DevArt or the AstonShell site.

EDIT: Oh, and I do believe they are working on the drag-and-drop thing for release within the next couple of versions.

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