Ed Bott made a point that I have a hard time disagreeing with: Where are the Vista Ultimate Extras? Nowhere, evidently.
Part of the reason he has been unhappy about the Extras thing is because they, in theory, represent a fair part of the pricetag for Vista Ultimate -- not BitLocker, not the Vista backup tool (which despite having full-system backup and restore is annoyingly crippled in wholly arbitrary ways that have nothing to do with withholding features from lesser-paying customers or anything like that), but the stuff that MS hasn't even published yet and which they are charging Ultimate users a premium for. Heck, I'm an MSDN subscriber and I get to use Ultimate in my lab without having to shell out for the full price, but even I can see this is disingenuous.
So where are they? I have a few theories.
- They're still in the process of being doped out, and Microsoft is being as secretive as possible about them. Somehow, this does not square with what I know about Microsoft -- they have a harder time keeping secrets than almost anyone else in their position that I know of. Not because they're bad about doing so, but because they want to generate buzz. (I'm willing to believe they have an easier time keeping their silence about this than something truly major like Windows Home Server, but it still doesn't square with what I know about them as a whole.)
- They just haven't been written yet. Sadly, I have the feeling this is the most likely theory. They simply do not yet exist in any form -- or they had earlier editions of Extras that were discarded because they simply didn't meet their own expectations.
For me, right now, the Extras that do exist are wasted. Hold 'Em Poker -- well, I'm no poker player, so strike that. Dreamscene? My machine's video hardware can barely deal with it (part of the reason I'm getting a new machine next year). BitLocker? On my notebook, it's useful, sure but not my desktop -- and on my notebook it's a terrible pain to work with in the first place since my notebook doesn't support booting from USB (which is mainly how it's implemented on a non-TPM system), so I have to punch in this massive PIN number to boot it each time if I want to use it.
Maybe they're waiting for Christmas.
I believe that Ultimate Extras is analogous to the Windows Plus! application program(s) that Microsoft sold for earlier versions of Windows. It was not worth the price. I suspect that Ultimate is the same. I do not find Dreamscape nor Texas Hold Em compelling reasons to recommend Ultimate. In fact, the dizzying array of Windows Vista versions (10 in total - 5 versions times 32 bit and 64 bit versions) makes this an incredibly unintelligent marketing program.
I believe this compares unfavorably with the Mac OS, which comes in only one version. Part of the reason that Linux on the desktop does not grab more market share is that there are too many versions for people to consider. Vista is similarly positioned.
Sadly, I have to agree. of course I bought Ultimate, not for promised "Extras", but becasue of eWeenis swagger. But regardless, it is actually laughable that there is still basically nothing.
They should be embarrassed for themselves.
And I agree with Richard above; too many versions is sad marketing. Makes no sense.
We shall see.