Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Friday, 25 April 2008 13:26
Opinion and Analysis
Page 1 of 3
Last Tuesday, the 22nd of April, something remarkable happened.
Microsoft decided it was time to finally release some new Vista
Ultimate Extras. So, has something dramatic shifted at Microsoft at
last, or are the extras “cool”, but “no big deal”? Read on, dear
reader. Read on.
Ah, Windows Vista Ultimate. The most expensive consumer operating system in the entire galaxy, ever. Also, the OS with the most promise, yet the one that, seemingly, delivered the least in excitement and value for money.
It’s also the version of Vista that I use, and actually, quite prefer over to the old Windows XP, although I happily acknowledge that many don’t share my view.
Indeed, despite the likelihood that many probably want to call it the Windows Vista “Underwhelm Edition”, Vista Ultimate does actually offer features that other versions of Vista don’t, and the one that most people know best is Dreamscene – the video backgrounds that should have frankly also come with Windows Vista Home Premium.
So it should come as no surprise that the first of the new batch of promised “Ultimate Extras” turns out to be more of the same – plus something new, and slightly unexpected, although hardly earth shattering.
The first of the new Ultimate Extras are, unsurprisingly, Dreamscene updates. There are three of them, which you can see still photos of at the Windows Vista Team
Blog.
To describe them, the first has a leaf with a droplet of water continually dripping from its tip, the second has a scene of brown leaves in the treetops gently swaying en mass in the wind, while the third has a picture of a hunk of upside down triangular ice which is slowly melting, once more with water dripping from its rounded “tip”.
They’re all nice additions to the Dreamscene selection, but won’t set the world on fire.
So, what are the second set of new Vista Ultimate Extras? And when are we likely to see some REAL new Ultimate Extras appear from within the depths of Redmond? Please read onto page 2.
