| Microsoft releases Vista Plus! Pack – but it’s a minus |
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| by Alex Zaharov-Reutt | |
| Wednesday, 16 January 2008 | |
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Update: FutureShop Canada has removed the link for the Vista Plus! Pack - you can still find a copy of the original boxshot here. See below for more details. Set to be available for CAD $39.99, the description of the software was actually the description for Windows Vista Home Premium, and not the Plus! Pack – but the price seemed to fit the Plus! Pack as Vista Home Premium certainly does not sell for $40. We were able to click on the picture for a larger view of the front of the Vista Plus! Pack in all its glory, showing a combination of the four casual puzzle-style games in the box, with an ‘E for Everyone’ ESRB rating and a logo for Mumbo Jumbo, a creator of casual games for the Windows platform. Update: We received an email from Mumbo Jumbo advising us that "This game pack has not been released and does not have a release date associated with it yet (I’m unsure where the information originated)". We are still in the process of working with Microsoft, but we have not finalized the Plus! Pack materials or timeline yet. Could you please remove this story as it is inaccurate? It looks as though FutureShop Canada has removed the misinformation, and we would appreciate your assistance in doing the same. Your assistance is greatly appreciated". So, Mumbo Jumbo have confirmed that the Vista Plus! Pack is real and not a figment of a mischievous Photoshopper's imagination, and most interestingly, they're still "working with Microsoft" to "finalize the Plus! Pack". Now that news of a Vista Plus! Pack has leaked, with most seeming relatively unimpressed, Microsoft might well decide to add a few more plusses to the Vista Plus! Pack. The rest of the original story is as follows: Despite different versions of the Plus! Pack being available for different versions of Windows since Windows 95, The Plus! Pack was seemingly eliminated for the Vista platform, as Windows Vista Ultimate was set to be the version of Windows with all the ultimate goodies, along with new ones from time to time. Unfortunately, a year after the launch, the only real Ultimate Extras to speak of are Dreamscene, Hold ‘Em Poker and the BitLocker encryption software – and that’s it. Vista Ultimate owners are still waiting for more of the promised extras to turn up. A true Plus! Pack from the past would have had a range of fun themes, some games and some utilities to round out the package. But now the Plus! Pack is relegated to delivering a few casual puzzle games at a cost of $10 each. Microsoft isn't even making the games available free to Vista Ultimate owners. Why not? They wouldn't be the most useful Ultimate Extras but they'd at least be something. The inclusion only of games in the Vista Plus! Pack makes it the least feature packed Pack of them all, in what is a puzzling decision that really is much more of a Minus! on your time and your wallet, and not a Plus! at all.
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