The Ultimate Letdown?

Some say: "Failure to deliver... Failure to communicate..."

Published on June 14, 2007 By cavalierex In Vista Reviews

Remember this?
Ultimate Promises

Recently, several caustic articles have criticized Microsoft's failure to deliver Vista Ultimate extras:

Truly, aside from Stardock's own efforts with DeskScapes, DreamScene seems all but abandoned as 'preview' beta software: still CPU-heavy, and not nearly close to delivering what it promised.

Does it strike anyone else as strange that it's been six months since Vista shipped, and there are still no new Extras? Surely, one would have expected Microsoft to at least ship some samples from their labs that employ WPF goodness. Even a WPF-based/sidebar-based MSN Messenger would be a welcome thing, not to mention PowerToys or the many extras that they hinted would arrive. Where are the "cutting-edge programs"? The "innovative services"? The "unique publications"? What happened to the cool stuff that was hilighted in the well-circulated Longhorn concept videos (Video #1 and Video #2)?

At the very least, Microsoft's own Ultimate blog (http://windowsultimate.com) should communicate with us... telling us what's taking so long. But the site's been inactive for months (last publication was in March!), and they haven't responded to any e-mails.

I'm curious to hear what everyone else thinks.

Comments (Page 5)

AllDoneHere

on Feb 14, 2008

Well I purchased Ultimate as soon as it came out... the Dream feature is really nice, but I also use some of the other features such as IIS (Internet Information Server). I have yet to complain about my machine. The only thing that would not install is my 3 year old HP black laser printer, which is ok because I had just purchased a new full colour laser printer which works just fine.

Sorry to hear not everyone had the same experience as me.

I also am a Microsoft Certified Professional and Certified in A+/Software. I've been playing around with computers since 1982 with a sinclear my buddy had and I purchased a TI 994A with the whole 16K on board and a cassette recorder to save my files to!

Uvah

on Feb 14, 2008

Is Windows 7 the new name for what I thought was Vienna? Just curious. OH...BTW...I'm glad I stuck with the home premium version. All this Ultimate nonsense is just that...my two cents.

stuarty25

on Mar 01, 2008

Hi,

I have been disillusioned with the extras available as well.

Bitlocker - dont need it
Language packs - whoppeeeee
Hold em pocker - wow thats me stopped playing half life 2 etc.
Dreamscene - totally pointless unless i want to keep my processor running at 20%
all the time and its a core 2 duo running each core at 3.3 Ghz

Cant they give us something that would actually be worth having such as the animated logon screen, flashier photo, video folders etc as seen in the longhorn concept.

Im thinking that most people who have bought ultimate have fairly high spec machines and so would be able to run fancier graphics etc no probs. For example in the Windows Experience Index my base score is 5.7 and thats my processor.

If they also wanted to redesign the sidebar so it was more configurable and was easier to put system info into it that would be great. Merge a programme like Samurize with Vista Sidebar and you would have a great little app.

Astyanax

on Mar 01, 2008

Is Windows 7 the new name for what I thought was Vienna? Just curious. OH...BTW...I'm glad I stuck with the home premium version. All this Ultimate nonsense is just that...my two cents.

Vienna is the name of the next version of Media Center.

Yuna.Fire

on Mar 04, 2008

So, I acquired Vista Ultimate mainly for the Dreamscene Extra. I've no problems with Ultimate or anything, so this isn't a 'omg Vista sucks' rant. Rather, I learned that Stardock released Deskscapes 2.0, which enables Dreamscene to run on all versions of Vista with Aero.

My thinking is Home Premium, with less features than Ultimate, would be better for my system cpu/ram wise.

Here's my inquiry: could I downgrade to Home Premium from Ultimate WITHOUT losing any of my data? Or would that require a clean install? Thank you.

CarGuy1

on Mar 05, 2008

What...no one uses the complete system backup feature in Ultimate?

Did anyone buy Ultimate for the networking features?

ZubaZ

on Mar 05, 2008

I got Vista Business and a few third-party add-ons (including DreamScapes) and am as Ultimate as I need to be.

CarGuy1

on Mar 05, 2008

(including DreamScapes)

You must have gotten your hands on a hybrid version, part DreamScene, part DeskScapes.

ZubaZ

on Mar 05, 2008

You must have gotten your hands on a hybrid version, part DreamScene, part DeskScapes.

DOH!

MetalHellssAngel

on Mar 08, 2008

Well I purchased Ultimate as soon as it came out... the Dream feature is really nice, but I also use some of the other features such as IIS (Internet Information Server).

IIS 7 is also available on home premium Ive installed it, used it, configured multiple sites on it, as well as installing, php, perl, and python on it. Also Now thanks to stardock I have animated wallpapers so I wouldn't really consider either of those a reason to purchase vista ultimate. I'm glad I got home premium it's been nice to use and I don't have any complaints.

cavalierex

on Apr 04, 2008

Just thought of one more thing that would make for a great Ultimate Extra: A ribbon customizer for the Office 2007 apps. I know, it's not technically part of Vista (but rather, part of Office). Still, how nice would it be to rearrange some ribbon groups or add new commands and entirely new groups?

Tons of ideas... But no Extras!

pjdark

on Apr 04, 2008

get a mac. i know pretty deep huh?

Wiccan1

on Apr 04, 2008

I am so happy I never installed my free Vista upgrade. My XP is so much better.

BTW MS is working on its next OS, since Windoes 6 (Vista) has been such a bomb. Read about Windows 7 WWW Link

Wiccan1

on Apr 04, 2008

Pic of MS 7 is here http://news.softpedia.com/newsImage/Windows-7-Milestone-1-M1-Ultimate-Build-6-1-6519-1-4.png.

Release is scheduled for 2010

cavalierex

on Apr 07, 2008

MS is working on its next OS, since Windoes 6 (Vista) has been such a bomb.

I wouldn't necessarily say that it's been a bomb. It's definitely sold a lot of copies. And personally, I rather like Windows Vista. SP1 definitely took care of the few issues that I was having. My problem isn't with Windows Vista at all -- but with the Ultimate Extras (or lack thereof!).

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