Windows Ultimate Extras

Last updated

Windows Ultimate Extras were optional features offered by Microsoft to users of the Ultimate edition of Windows Vista and are accessible via Windows Update. Ultimate Extras replaced the market role of Microsoft Plus!, a product sold for prior consumer releases of Microsoft Windows. [1] According to Microsoft's Barry Goffe, the company's goal with Ultimate Extras was to delight customers who purchased the Ultimate edition of Windows Vista, the most expensive retail edition of the operating system. [2]

Contents

Windows Ultimate Extras have been discontinued as of Windows 7 without a successor planned [3] and the operating system also removes all installed extras during an upgrade from Windows Vista Ultimate. [4] [5]

Contents

Microsoft released a total of nine Ultimate Extras for users of Windows Vista Ultimate.

BitLocker and EFS enhancements

The BitLocker Drive Preparation Tool utility and the Secure Online Key Backup utility were among the first Ultimate Extras to be made available, and were released to coincide with the general retail availability of Windows Vista. [6] [7] [8] BitLocker Drive Preparation Tool prepares the hard drive to be encrypted with BitLocker, [9] whereas Secure Online Key Backup enabled users to create an off-site backup of their BitLocker recovery password and Encrypting File System recovery certificates at Digital Locker, as part of the Windows Marketplace digital distribution platform. [10] Secure Online Key Backup was rendered inoperable after Digital Locker shut down in August 2009. [11] [12]

Multilingual User Interface language packs

Unlike previous versions of Windows, Windows Vista is language-independent; the language architecture separates the language resources for the user interface from the binary code of the operating system. [13] Support for installing additional languages is included in the Enterprise and Ultimate editions of Windows Vista. [14] In the Ultimate edition, the functionality is made available through Windows Update as Ultimate Extras. [15]

Microsoft stated that 16 languages were made available on January 30, 2007. [16] The company released the remaining language packs on October 23, 2007 for a total of 35 language packs. [17] An additional 36th language pack version is available for Windows Vista that supports traditional Chinese characters with the Hong Kong Supplementary Character Set. [18]

Microsoft Tinker

Microsoft Tinker is a puzzle game made available on September 23, 2008 where players must navigate a robot through mazes and obstacles. A total of 60 levels are included, and players can create their own levels with a level editor. [19] [20]

Hold 'Em

The Hold 'Em game Hold 'Em (Windows Ultimate Extra).png
The Hold 'Em game

Hold 'Em (formerly Windows Poker as in build 5284) is a poker card game released on January 29, 2007 [7] that is fundamentally similar to Texas hold 'em. [1] [21] Hold 'Em allows users to play against up to five computer players and up to three levels of difficulty, and also allows users to customize aspects of the game's appearance; [1] the game relies on DirectX to produce hardware-accelerated 3D animations and effects. [22] For optimal performance, Hold 'Em requires a computer with a Windows Experience Index rating of 2.0 or higher. [7]

According to Paul Thurrott, Hold 'Em was originally intended to be bundled alongside the premium games— Chess Titans , Mahjong Titans , and InkBall —included by default with the Home Premium and Ultimate editions of Windows Vista, but was instead made an Ultimate Extra because of its gambling themes. [1]

Windows sound schemes

A total of three sound schemes for Windows Vista were released: Ultimate Extras Glass, Ultimate Extras Pearl, and Microsoft Tinker. The first two were made available on April 22, 2008, [23] while the latter was made available on September 23, 2008 to coincide with the release of Microsoft Tinker. [20] The Glass and Pearl sound schemes are similar to the Default sound scheme included in Windows Vista as they were also developed in accordance with the Windows Aero graphical user interface. [24] [25]

Windows DreamScene

Windows DreamScene enables MPEG and WMV videos to be displayed as desktop backgrounds. Windows Aero must be enabled for Windows DreamScene due to requiring the Desktop Window Manager to display videos on the desktop. [26]

Proposed extras

Proposed Windows Ultimate Extras included a downloadable podcast creator, [27] a game performance optimizer, [27] digital publications, [28] exclusive access to online content, [27] themes, [27] Windows DVD Maker templates, [2] and Windows Movie Maker effects and transitions; [2] the Group Shot photo application developed by Microsoft Research shown by Bill Gates at the Consumer Electronics Show in 2007 also was once considered. [29]

Despite not being considered Windows Ultimate Extras, the Windows Ultimate Extras team additionally released two wallpapers (Start and Strands) based on the Windows Vista Ultimate retail packaging and intended for Windows Vista Ultimate users; the wallpapers were made available in three different display resolutions. [30] [31]

Critical reception

Reaction to Windows Ultimate Extras was mixed. While Microsoft was praised for creating a value proposition for users who purchased the most expensive edition of Windows Vista, the company was criticized for its delays during delivery of updates, [32] [33] perceived lack of quality of delivered updates, [33] [34] [35] and a lack of transparency regarding their development. [28] [36] Early on, there were concerns that the features would not live up to users' expectations. [28] The company announced several Ultimate Extras in January 2007, but only a fraction of these were released five months later. [37] After months without an official update since January, Microsoft released an apology for the delays, stating that it intended to ship the remaining features before the end of summer of 2007. [37] The delays between consecutive updates and months of silence had led to speculation that the development team within the company responsible for the features had been quietly disbanded. [36]

When Microsoft announced its intentions to release the remaining Ultimate Extras and released an apology for delays, Paul Thurrott stated that the company had "dropped the ball" with the features. [37] Ed Bott wrote that Ultimate Extras were "probably the biggest mistake Microsoft made with Vista," and that the company would downplay the Ultimate edition of Windows 7 as a result. [12] Bott would later list them among his "decade's worth of Windows mistakes." [38]

Microsoft was also criticized for changing the description for Ultimate Extras within the operating system. The offerings slated to be made available were initially described as "cutting-edge programs," "innovative services," and "unique publications," but the description for the features within the Control Panel applet was later modified in Windows Vista Service Pack 1 to be more modest; this was interpreted as an attempt made by the company to avoid fulfilling prior expectations. [12] [39] [40]

Emil Protalinski of Ars Technica wrote that the Ultimate edition of Windows Vista "would have looked just fine without the joke that is 'Ultimate Extras'" and that the features were supposed to provide an incentive for consumers to purchase that edition, "not give critics something to point and laugh at." [41] In the second part of his review of Windows 7, Peter Bright of Ars Technica wrote that "the value proposition of the Ultimate Extras was nothing short of piss-poor." [42] Bright would later criticize Microsoft's decision not to release Internet Explorer 10 for Windows Vista, but would go on to state that this was still "not as bad as the Ultimate Extras farce." [43]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Windows XP</span> Microsoft PC operating system released in 2001

Windows XP is a major release of Microsoft's Windows NT operating system. It was released to manufacturing on August 24, 2001, and later to retail on October 25, 2001. It is a direct upgrade to its predecessors, Windows 2000 for high-end and business users and Windows Me for home users, and is available for any devices running Windows NT 4.0, Windows 98, Windows 2000, or Windows Me that meet the new Windows XP system requirements.

Virtual PC is a discontinued x86 emulator for PowerPC Mac hosts and a hypervisor for Microsoft Windows hosts. It was created by Connectix in 1997 and acquired by Microsoft in 2003. The Mac version was discontinued in 2006 following the Mac transition to Intel, while the Windows version was discontinued in 2011 in favour of Hyper-V.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Windows 7</span> Eighth major release of Windows NT

Windows 7 is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was released to manufacturing on July 22, 2009, and became generally available on October 22, 2009. It is the successor to Windows Vista, released nearly three years earlier. Windows 7's server counterpart, Windows Server 2008 R2, was released at the same time. Windows 7 remained an operating system for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops, tablet PCs and media center PCs, and itself was replaced in November 2012 by Windows 8, the name spanning more than three years of the product.

The Start menu is a graphical user interface element that has been part of Microsoft Windows since Windows 95, providing a means of opening programs and performing other functions in the Windows shell. The Start menu, and the Taskbar on which it appears, were created and named in 1993 by Daniel Oran, a program manager at Microsoft who had previously collaborated on great ape language research with the behavioral psychologist B.F. Skinner at Harvard.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Microsoft MapPoint</span> Discontinued software by Microsoft

Microsoft MapPoint is a discontinued software program and service created by Microsoft that allows users to view, edit and integrate maps. The software and technology are designed to facilitate the geographical visualization and analysis of either included data or custom data. Numerous acquisitions have supplemented both data and feature integration.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Windows Vista</span> Seventh major release of Windows NT

Windows Vista is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was the direct successor to Windows XP, released five years earlier, which was then the longest time span between successive releases of Microsoft Windows. It was released to manufacturing on November 8, 2006, and over the following two months, it was released in stages to business customers, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), and retail channels. On January 30, 2007, it was released internationally and was made available for purchase and download from the Windows Marketplace; it is the first release of Windows to be made available through a digital distribution platform.

Microsoft Plus! is a discontinued commercial operating system enhancement product by Microsoft. The last edition is the Plus! SuperPack, which includes an assortment of screensavers, themes, and games, as well as multimedia applications. The Microsoft Plus! product was first announced on January 31, 1994, under the internal codename "Frosting". The first edition was an enhancement for Windows 95, Windows 95 Plus!

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Windows Meeting Space</span>

Windows Meeting Space was a peer-to-peer collaboration program developed by Microsoft for Windows Vista as a replacement for Windows NetMeeting and it enables application sharing, collaborative editing, desktop sharing, file sharing, projecting, and simple text-based or ink-based instant messaging across up to 10 users connected to the same network or across the Internet. Meeting Space has the ability to automatically set up an ad hoc wireless network if a connection to a network or the Internet are not available and also enables participants to invite other people to meeting sessions. It is the first application for the new peer-to-peer framework in Windows Vista and hence requires IPv6.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">BitLocker</span> Disk encryption software for Microsoft Windows

BitLocker is a full volume encryption feature included with Microsoft Windows versions starting with Windows Vista. It is designed to protect data by providing encryption for entire volumes. By default, it uses the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) algorithm in cipher block chaining (CBC) or "xor–encrypt–xor (XEX)-based Tweaked codebook mode with ciphertext Stealing" (XTS) mode with a 128-bit or 256-bit key. CBC is not used over the whole disk; it is applied to each individual sector.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Windows Anytime Upgrade</span> Discontinued service by Microsoft

Windows Anytime Upgrade was a service by Microsoft introduced in Windows Vista that facilitated upgrades across successive editions of Windows Vista. Prices for upgrades purchased through Windows Anytime Upgrade were lower than prices for upgrades purchased at retail. Windows Anytime Upgrade is included in Windows 7 to allow users to upgrade to Windows 7 editions. In Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 it was rebranded as Add Features to Windows and was used to purchase an upgrade license for the Pro edition or to add Windows Media Center to an existing Pro installation. Support for this feature was discontinued on October 31, 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Windows DVD Maker</span> Discontinued DVD authoring program

Windows DVD Maker is a discontinued DVD authoring application developed by Microsoft introduced in Windows Vista, available in the Home Premium and Ultimate editions of Windows Vista for users to create slideshows and videos for playback on media devices including DVD players and the Xbox 360 home video game console. It is also available in the Home Premium, Professional, Enterprise, and Ultimate editions of Windows 7, but it is no longer available as of the release of Windows 8.

Windows XP visual styles are customizations of the graphical user interface of Windows XP. "Luna", "Royale", "Zune", and "Embedded" are codenames of the official visual styles designed for Windows XP by Microsoft. Since Windows XP, themes include the choice of visual styles as well. By default, "Luna" is preinstalled on Windows XP Home and Professional editions, "Royale" is preinstalled on Windows XP Media Center Edition and "Embedded" is preinstalled on Windows Embedded Standard 2009 and Windows Embedded POSReady 2009. In addition to the preinstalled visual styles, Microsoft has released additional ones for download. There were also some placeholder visual styles that Microsoft had used in beta versions of Windows before unveiling the official visual styles, such as "Watercolor" and "Mallard". Third parties have also released visual styles, though these require modification of core Windows components to work. Visual styles are compatible with all Windows XP editions except Starter Edition.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Windows Essentials</span> Microsoft freeware applications suite by Microsoft

Windows Essentials is a discontinued suite of Microsoft freeware applications that includes email, instant messaging, photo sharing, blogging, and parental control software. Essentials programs are designed to integrate well with each other, with Microsoft Windows, and other Microsoft web-based services such as OneDrive and Outlook.com.

Windows Vista—a major release of the Microsoft Windows operating system—was available in six different product editions: Starter, Home Basic, Home Premium, Business, Enterprise, and Ultimate. On September 5, 2006, Microsoft announced the USD pricing for editions available through retail channels; the operating system was later made available to retail on January 30, 2007. Microsoft also made Windows Vista available for purchase and download from Windows Marketplace; it is the first version of Windows to be distributed through a digital distribution platform. Editions sold at retail were available in both Full and Upgrade versions and later included Service Pack 1 (SP1).

Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP) is a suite of utilities for Microsoft Windows customers who have subscribed to Microsoft Software Assurance program. It aims at bringing easier manageability and monitoring of enterprise desktops, emergency recovery, desktop virtualization and application virtualization.

The Mojave Experiment was an advertising campaign conducted by Microsoft for Windows Vista in 2008. The campaign was part of Microsoft's efforts to change what it felt was an unfair negative consumer perception of the operating system. Mojave spanned a series of advertisements that consisted of individuals being shown a demonstration of Windows Vista by Microsoft; however, the operating system was rebranded in disguise as a new version of Windows codenamed "Mojave," which was not revealed during the demonstration.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Microsoft Security Essentials</span> Discontinued antivirus product for Microsoft Windows

Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) is a discontinued antivirus software (AV) product that provides protection against different types of malicious software, such as computer viruses, spyware, rootkits, and Trojan horses. Prior to version 4.5, MSE ran on Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7, but not on Windows 8 and later versions, which have built-in AV components known as Windows Defender. MSE 4.5 and later versions do not run on Windows XP. The license agreement allows home users and small businesses to install and use the product free of charge.

Windows 7, a major release of the Microsoft Windows operating system, has been released in several editions since its original release in 2009. Only Home Premium, Professional, and Ultimate were widely available at retailers. The other editions focus on other markets, such as the software development world or enterprise use. All editions support 32-bit IA-32 CPUs and all editions except Starter support 64-bit x64 CPUs. 64-bit installation media are not included in Home-Basic edition packages, but can be obtained separately from Windows.

Windows 8, a major release of the Microsoft Windows operating system, was available in four different editions: Windows 8 (Core), Pro, Enterprise, and RT. Only Windows 8 (Core) and Pro were widely available at retailers. The other editions focus on other markets, such as embedded systems or enterprise. All editions support 32-bit IA-32 CPUs and x64 CPUs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Microsoft Office 2013</span> Version of Microsoft Office released in 2013

Microsoft Office 2013 is a version of Microsoft Office, a productivity suite for Microsoft Windows. Unlike with Office 2010, no OS X equivalent was released.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Paul Thurrott (October 6, 2010). "Windows Ultimate Extras Review". Supersite for Windows. Penton. Archived from the original on December 28, 2016. Retrieved May 28, 2015.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  2. 1 2 3 Bishop, Todd (March 23, 2008). "Software Notebook: Microsoft's Ultimate Extras overhyped, users underwhelmed". Seattle Post-Intelligencer . Hearst Corporation . Retrieved May 26, 2015.
  3. ↑ Protalinski, Emil (February 6, 2009). "Microsoft: No Ultimate Extras for Windows 7". Ars Technica . Condé Nast . Retrieved May 26, 2015.
  4. ↑ Paul Thurrott (February 10, 2009). "No Ultimate Extras in Windows 7. But wait, it gets worse". Supersite for Windows. Penton. Archived from the original on December 28, 2016. Retrieved May 26, 2015.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  5. ↑ Oiaga, Marius (February 11, 2009). "Windows 7 Kills Ultimate Extras, Even Vista's". Softpedia . SoftNews NET SRL . Retrieved May 26, 2015.
  6. ↑ Oiaga, Marius (January 8, 2007). "Vista BitLocker and EFS Enhancements". Softpedia . SoftNews NET SRL . Retrieved May 27, 2015.
  7. 1 2 3 Hill, Brandon (January 30, 2007). "Microsoft Delivers First Windows Vista Ultimate 'Extras'". DailyTech. Retrieved May 28, 2015.
  8. ↑ Block, Ryan (January 29, 2007). "Windows Vista Ultimate Extras go live". Engadget . AOL . Retrieved June 13, 2015.
  9. ↑ "Description of the BitLocker Drive Preparation Tool". Windows Support. Microsoft . Retrieved May 27, 2015.
  10. ↑ "Windows Vista Secure Online Key Backup release information". How-to. Microsoft. March 17, 2007. Retrieved May 30, 2015.
  11. ↑ Chandran, Chakkaradeep (December 12, 2008). "Microsoft: Closing your digital locker account". Neowin . Retrieved May 30, 2015.
  12. 1 2 3 Bott, Ed (August 17, 2009). "Windows 7 customers still paying for Microsoft's Ultimate mistakes". ZDNet . CBS Interactive . Retrieved June 14, 2015.
  13. ↑ "Guide to Windows Vista Multilingual User Interface". TechNet . Microsoft. March 7, 2007. Retrieved May 26, 2015.
  14. ↑ "Install a display language". Windows How-to. Microsoft . Retrieved June 12, 2015.
  15. ↑ "Windows Vista Ultimate language pack release information". Windows How-to. Microsoft . Retrieved June 12, 2015.
  16. ↑ "Extras: Language Packs". Windows Ultimate Blog. Microsoft. January 30, 2007. Archived from the original on March 6, 2007. Retrieved June 11, 2015.
  17. ↑ Goffe, Barry (October 25, 2007). "Remaining Ultimate Extra Language Packs Released!". Windows Ultimate Blog. Microsoft. Archived from the original on October 25, 2007. Retrieved June 11, 2015.
  18. ↑ "Windows Vista: An Expanded View of Internationalization". MSDN . Microsoft . Retrieved June 11, 2015.
  19. ↑ Rivera, Rafael (September 23, 2008). "Microsoft Tinker Extra released to Windows Vista Ultimate users". Within Windows. Archived from the original on June 15, 2015. Retrieved March 16, 2024.
  20. 1 2 Protalinski, Emil (September 24, 2008). "Three new Ultimate Extras arrive, including Microsoft Tinker". Ars Technica . Condé Nast . Retrieved May 26, 2015.
  21. ↑ Bromham, Tony (February 1, 2007). "Microsoft Releases Texas Hold'em Game – Just for Fun!". PokerNews. Retrieved May 28, 2015.
  22. ↑ "The Hold 'Em game for Windows Vista Ultimate is available from Windows Update". How-to. Microsoft . Retrieved May 28, 2015.
  23. ↑ Flores, Chris (April 22, 2008). "New Ultimate Extras Released". Windows Vista Team Blog. Microsoft. Archived from the original on April 30, 2008. Retrieved May 26, 2015.
  24. ↑ Shultz, Greg (April 30, 2008). "Examine the new Ultimate Extras available for Windows Vista Ultimate". TechRepublic . CBS Interactive . Retrieved June 11, 2015.
  25. ↑ Allchin, Jim (November 9, 2006). "The Sounds of Windows Vista". Windows Vista Team Blog. Microsoft. Archived from the original on November 10, 2006. Retrieved April 25, 2015.
  26. ↑ Oiaga, Marius (January 8, 2007). "Windows DreamScene Adds Videos as Background for Vista". Softpedia . SoftNews NET SRL . Retrieved May 28, 2015.
  27. 1 2 3 4 Paul Thurrott (October 6, 2010). "Windows Vista Product Editions". Supersite for Windows. Penton . Retrieved May 30, 2015.
  28. 1 2 3 Long, Zheng (February 27, 2007). "Is Windows Vista Ultimate Extras a sham?". istartedsomething. Retrieved May 30, 2015.
  29. ↑ Bishop, Todd (March 24, 2008). "Ultimate Extras: What happened to GroupShot". Seattle Post-Intelligencer . Hearst Corporation . Retrieved May 30, 2015.
  30. ↑ "Ultimate Downloads". Windows Ultimate Blog. Microsoft. Archived from the original on March 15, 2007. Retrieved May 30, 2015.
  31. ↑ Oiaga, Marius (March 8, 2007). "Download the Ultimate Wow Windows Vista Wallpapers". Softpedia . SoftNews NET SRL . Retrieved May 30, 2015.
  32. ↑ Keizer, Gregg (June 28, 2007). "Critics: Vista Ultimate's promised add-ons just broken promises". Computerworld . IDG . Retrieved June 12, 2015.
  33. 1 2 Phillips, Josh (June 13, 2007). "Ultimate Extras, Where are you?". Archived from the original on June 16, 2007. Retrieved June 12, 2015.
  34. ↑ Spector, Lincoln (September 8, 2008). "12 Unnecessary Vista Features You Can Disable Right Now". The Washington Post . Retrieved June 1, 2015.
  35. ↑ Hughes-Kingsley, Adrian (September 24, 2008). "Microsoft Tinker - Best Ultimate Extra so far (although the bar is set pretty low)". CNET . CBS Interactive . Retrieved June 1, 2015.
  36. 1 2 Zheng, Long (June 14, 2007). "Windows Ultimate Extras is a sham – where's the responsibility?". istartedsomething. Retrieved June 13, 2015.
  37. 1 2 3 Paul Thurrott (July 2, 2007). "Microsoft in Vista Ultimate Extras Embarrassment". Windows IT Pro. Penton . Retrieved June 13, 2015.
  38. ↑ Bott, Ed (October 26, 2011). "A decade's worth of Windows mistakes that changed Microsoft (for better and worse)". ZDNet . CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on November 9, 2015. Retrieved June 14, 2015.
  39. ↑ Long, Zheng (September 23, 2007). "The Ultimate con". istartedsomething. Retrieved June 11, 2015.
  40. ↑ Dunn, Scott (June 28, 2007). "Microsoft evades promise of Vista Ultimate Extras". Windows Secrets. Wiley Publishing Inc. Retrieved June 13, 2015.
  41. ↑ Protalinski, Emil (April 22, 2008). "Microsoft releases two more Ultimate Extras". Ars Technica . Condé Nast . Retrieved June 11, 2015.
  42. ↑ Bright, Peter (October 25, 2009). "Hasta la Vista, baby: Ars reviews Windows 7". Ars Technica . Condé Nast . Retrieved June 1, 2015.
  43. ↑ Bright, Peter (April 15, 2011). "Microsoft's raw deal for Vista users: IE10 for Windows 7 only". Ars Technica . Condé Nast . Retrieved June 11, 2015.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.