Microsoft actually updates Ultimate Extras (Updated)

So will this cause me to rush out and buy an upgrade from Home Premium to Ultimate? I think not.

meason What people paid extra for was a copy of Windows Vista that had all the features of both Windows Vista Home Premium and Windows Vista Enterprise. Assuming you meant "paid extra" by comparison with Home Premium, that means the extra was for: Complete PC Backup and Restore (Image based) Shadow Copy (restore previous versios of your documents) 128GB+ RAM support on 64-bit systems (16GB on Home Pro) Two processor (two physical sockets) support Small Business Resources Windows Fax and Scan Wireless Networking Provisioning Full Windows Mobility Center (subset in Home Premium) Offline Folder Support System image-based backup and recovery Encrypting file system Desktop deployment tools for managed networks Policy-based quality of service for networking Windows Rights Management Services Client Control over installation of device drivers Network Access Protection Client Agent Windows Bitlocker drive encryption Support for simultaneout installation of multiple UI languages All worldwide UI languages Subsystem for UNIX-based applications

Ultimate Extras is not what I was expecting. I probably would still buy it if I had it all over to do again. I hate limitations. Even if the features are something I don't need, just the thought that I'm not getting everything I can is enough to drive me crazy (if I'm not already there). I still dig my giant back lit Windows start button.

Mike Just admit MS lied when they advertised (and still do) Ultimate extras. Someone might actually listen when you babble about OS X secret features again. Who knows.

Mum Once again, Ultimate is for people who want all the features of all the versions. Ultimate Extras is not the same thing. It's a freebie bonus given to people who bought Ultimate. Personally, I need Ulitmate because my home computer is also sometimes used for corporate things. If you don't need both, get Home Premium for your home and Business or Enterprise for your business.

Extras are just that...extras. They didn't state mind expanding/blowing, knock your socks off extra software. In fact, I'm not sure if any extras were advertised. To me, extras are something for free. What do you want for free? I had no high expectations, I just wanted the full Vista suite in Ultimate, so I would never be limited.

Does anyone else notice some horrible noise on top of what would otherwise be a gorgeous dreamscene? Looks like an analog TV signal that's not quite tuned right.

Master3 They're sort of like the Plus Packs but the Plus Pack for Windows 95 was a special case. It also included items that the Windows team wanted to put in Windows 95 but that required the latest hardware. For example, the Plus Pack was the first place that Internet Explorer was available. (At the time, very few people had an ISP unless they were at a tech corporation, a government agency or a university)

At least it's something. I had written the UEs as dead a long time ago. Even this crap is better than nothing.

"Boooo!!!!!" You sound like a Democrat at the RNC. Go Colts! Go Redskins!

shark47 said, "You sound like a Democrat at the RNC. " First, thanks for the compliment. Actually, I would go to the RNC Convention to boo them. First Ammendment, gives me right to peacefully assemble, protest, and redress of grievances. I have many of them with the Grand Old Party. Considering how my wages and the wages of everyone I know around me hass a lot less purchasing power in the last 8 years of Bush, I have every right to boo them. @Mike, The Ultimate extras presented are laughable at best. I just think Microsoft needs to raise the bar here and get serious. As for the Fiji update, how about when you're on vacation in Europe? That would be handy for the travelers. I'm just saying there a lot that could be done with Extras, that isn't being done. We all know that Mary Jo fumbled on that issue. I'm just saying as a part of a larger and regular series of Extras, it would show Microsoft is looking after those people who popped up the extra coinage for Ultimate.

"Seriously, though. I think Microsoft is doing the right thing by improving the basic user experience of Vista, before it concentrates on the extras." Did anyone read the article by Daniel Lyons in the latest issue of Newsweek? The article repeats some of the old BS that we've been hearing - HP is working on another mini-OS, Lenovo is not upgrading its own computers and so on. Whether real or perceived and whether or not you think Daniel Lyons is an idiot (which I do), it's obvious that Microsoft has bigger problems than Ultimate Extras.

Now, personally, I'd love to see more done with the Ultimate Extras channel. What I don't like is people thinking that Vista Ultimate is nothing but the Ultimate Extras. That's like saying (assuming the screen shots are accurate) that Windows "7" should live or die on whether the new calculator has enough features.

I have to say that I am similarly disappointed that Microsoft hasn't done anything useful on the Ultimate Extras front. In Australia, Vista Ultimate was AU$751 at retail, and given the massive mark up compared to Home Premium, you would think there would be more of value, notwithstanding the additional backup and corporate features. But what particularly irks me is that Microsoft has also done nothing with Gadgets. There has not been any meaningful update to first-party gadgets since Vista's release, and that's a shame. There's a real opportunity to make this channel more useful and more extensible. MacOS is still way ahead on this front, even though they copied from Konfabulator. Finally, the new Windows Live "Wave 3" programs are not too bad. But, WL Movie Maker Beta is, quite frankly, a joke. Virtually every useful feature available in regular Windows Movie Maker (which shipped with Vista), has been stripped away. There are no timelines, extremely limited export options, extremely limited transition options and a whole lot less. The interface shows promise, but this program is useless, even if you make lots of youtube videos.

Just got to work and watched the vids on my work PC. Same noisy effect. Looking at any particular frame of the video when paused, some sort of image compression is clearly visible and my guess is that's what's causing it (Particularly in the lower left corner).

It's no surprise that new Ultimate Extras take so long to appear. I'm sure after each wave of new Extras, half of the development team ends up in hospital from depression, given the reception their work receives :-) And @msharpe: You're right, the new videos indeed look a bit noisy. Don't think there's something wrong with your screen oder video drivers...

@gorath: Thats debatable. Apart from the fact that there would be Ultimate Extras, i don't recall any touting as to what these Extras would be and how often they'd appear. Well, here are the Extras, and they are a bonus for purchasers. If they don't meet your expectations, and if they were the reason to buy Ultimate, well, don't buy 'em. At least next time...

"Well, here are the Extras, and they are a bonus for purchasers. If they don't meet your expectations, and if they were the reason to buy Ultimate, well, don't buy 'em. At least next time..." In other words they could have mailed doggie poop to customers with "Extras" sticker on it and that would have been ok because they didn't specify what "Extras" would be.

I liked my message so much, I got it approved by both Presidential candidates. "I'm Barack Obama and I approve this message." "I'm Sarah Palin and I approve this message."

@Sharky - You might be right about Palin being the back door GOP nominee...or at least the one that brought life back into the campaign...but Obama and Biden need to use Live Mesh to sync their stories up. "I'm Joe Biden, and FDR was president in 1929 and appeared on the yet to be invented television to discuss the stock market crash." --tayme

@RAAJ I did not buy Ultimate for the extras. I bought it because I needed the additional tools it provided. I think you need to be a little more considerate.

So... Not sure about a class action lawsuit, but let's be honest. The Ultimate Extras are few and far between and they're all over the map. An enterprise tool for Bitlocker Drive Encryption and a silly little game bundled as part of the same package? Spare me. It's no understatement to say that Extras is an embarrassment. My only real concern, though, is why Microsoft disappears for months at a time ... and then silently releases this silliness. BTW... Tinker is actually a cute game. It's no reason to buy Ultimate. But then either is the entire Extras package.

OT, just out of curiosity, why do so many people now refer to Microsoft as MSFT? When, and why did that become 'cool'?

I really don't think that a lawsuit would have much or any merit, but now you guys got me curious to see if my kids will like the game. Do you think that an 8 yr old can do it? Heck, my kids enjoy the clip art fron Office 2004 and 2007. They will sit for an hour adding many types of pics to a word document. Thankfully, we are given 3 licenses from MS [or MSFT as above...am I cool now?]. That's pretty generous and a very nice feature as I would imagine that many households have more than one computer.

mdsharpe They really are running fine here. I wonder if it's a widescreen vs 4:3 ratio thing. I'm running a wide display. Maybe I have noise but it's being clipped to fit the screen.