Technically Impulse might be called a 3rd party software since it is a separate company.
On the other hand, its a split off of StarDock and is still a sub corp of Stardock Corporation.
http://www.impulsedriven.com/about
And tho Im sure no one noticed, its formation follows closely my comments about digital download. When people first started yelling for it I said that all of the examples people were throwing around of "they seem to be doing it" had written their own download management software which is not as easy as it seems. And that only when a plug-n-play option was available would it become widespread. When you could add it to your site as easily as you add a forum or a blog or a wiki. (Brad does read these forums and Ive known him for longer than most but I wont take full credit). Brad did a smart thing by separating and packaging his digital download system