Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Desktops, Software, Freeware
Desktoptopia goes free and PC for version 1.5
My personal favorite desktop wallpaper app, the echo-named Desktoptopia, sent us a tip with a great announcement today: not only have they released version 1.5, and not only have they released a PC version (for your work computer to use, I guess), but Desktoptopia is now a completely free app.Now, I don't know if this is new or not, but their FAQ page says that the reason they're now free is that some of the wallpapers that will show up on your desktop (the app periodically changes your wallpaper for you, as often as you'd like) are "beautiful desktops that reflect a brand." I haven't yet seen any obvious ones pop up in the old version, and I haven't started using the new version yet, but I guess there's a chance that you could have, say, a Wal-mart desktop show up. That would probably give me reason to uninstall the software right there, but of course that's up to you -- if you don't like it, you could always try Desktopia, or just do it yourself with Automator.
I haven't had that problem yet, though -- in my experience, Desktoptopia has provided some great wallpapers (with no brands I could notice) as regularly as I'd like with no fuss at all. If you want some change to come regularly to your desktop wallpaper, but don't want to go hunting around for the right pics, Desktoptopia is a great solution that is now completely free. Great to hear.
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Desktoptopia Team said 10:13AM on 4-04-2008
Thanks for the link guys. I think we can guarantee no Walmart desktops! :)
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Pepijn Bruienne said 10:30AM on 4-04-2008
Site appears to be down or non-responsive... tuaw'ed?
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Gavin said 11:07AM on 4-04-2008
TUAWned!
Ouch, that was bad. I apologize.
But, no, I can't access it either.
The Desktoptopia Team said 6:03PM on 4-05-2008
working great now!
James Madley said 10:53AM on 4-04-2008
What's an "Automato"?
XD
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byaah said 11:11AM on 4-04-2008
Sounds like some from of a tomato, hmmm...
acidscan said 11:18AM on 4-04-2008
it's an australian tomato
greg.cordell said 11:22AM on 4-04-2008
Got through to the site and d/l'ed fine, but I guess the servers are getting crushed, b/c it is about as unresponsive as you can get. Hopefully it will work a little later...
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Brian said 12:05PM on 4-04-2008
They've used Disney adds for awhile, but you may not have noticed that they're actually ads. You can see them here: http://www.slashfilm.com/2007/10/31/rachel-weisz-as-snow-white-scarlett-johansson-as-cinderella/.
Also, I've upgraded my desktoptopia to 1.5 and it crashes my system preferences when I try to launch it from it's preference pane. And it also keeps asking me to upgrade (although I already did). The application is running, but so far I can't really tell if it's v. 1 or v. 1.5.
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Ben Garmisa said 3:38PM on 4-04-2008
Same here, interesting concept, but seems to crash more often than it runs... I'd love to have something like this that works though...
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MrMoustache said 5:27PM on 4-04-2008
Well, I can download OK, but no feeds are shown in the program. and I cant find any reference to them on the website. What am I missing? Is this due to the website problems?
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Bill Grant said 1:18AM on 4-05-2008
I didn't see the feeds initially, but I did when I rebooted my Mac. Working fine now.
Sometimes I don't get a new wallpaper when I do a menu press, but it comes on the next try. Since it's a wallpaper and not a mission-critical app this doesn't bother me at all.
Matt said 11:29AM on 4-05-2008
There are no feeds listed for me either. I tried restarting as well but still nothing. Does anyone have any ideas? Maybe it has something to do with their end but I don't know.
Leehblanc said 11:36PM on 4-04-2008
Im thinking that "Beautiful desktops that reflect a brand" would indicate something more along the lines of a collage of classic Coca Cola posters than a Wal Mart storefront. That I could deal with. Of course, none of this means much to me. I am so excited to finally own a Mac that I put the Leopard background on on day 1 and haven't changed it since. I guess I looked longingly at if for so long that I fell in love with it.
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Hal said 3:58PM on 4-07-2008
It also seems that users have the capability to "Reject" individual desktops using the Ratings feature in the drop menu. Looks like Desktoptopia gives you a good bit of control over what kinds of images you want to see.
Tim Brückmann said 3:08AM on 4-05-2008
Great app, is there any way to save the shown desktop?
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Brenig said 2:48PM on 4-05-2008
Go to the system prefs/desktop & screen saver/desktop. You'll see a tiny pic of the wallpaper. Just drag'n drop it where you want. You'll have a copy of the full size desktop pic.
token.alaskan said 1:48PM on 4-06-2008
The sponsored part seems to be movie-related; there's a feed called "Films" that has a star next to it, and when you try to disable it gives an error "Films is a sponsored feed and cannot be disabled." It's currently empty, though.
@Brenig: that tip isn't working for me on Tiger...i suppose one could kill the Finder, hide the Dock and take a screenshot...
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