Windows Vista Ultimate, what's in it for you?
By: Arie Slob
When Microsoft first announced the Windows Vista product versions, Windows Vista Ultimate was not only touted as the "has all" version of Vista, but Microsoft also made it clear that it would keep delivering new software to Vista Ultimate under the banner of "Ultimate Extra's".
Until just a few days ago, no details had been released of what was going to be included as 'Extra's' for Vista Ultimate.
But last Sunday during Bill Gate's opening keynote at the Consumer Electronics Show 2007 in Las Vegas, Microsoft showed the first Ultimate Extra's it has planned for release on January 30th when Vista Ultimate will be publicly available.
Justin Hutchinson, Microsoft group product manager showed off Windows DreamScene [video - 33 sec] which will enable you to select a video for your desktop background the same way you select a stationary picture. You can choose one of the looping videos that are included by Microsoft, or use a video from a company that produces content for DreamScene. But you can of course use your own video as a background [more info].
Earlier that weekend, Microsoft had shown off some of the other Ultimate Extra's it intends to make available, to invited guests (bloggers, Windows Community Members and Microsoft MVP's) at a Windows Vista Lab held in Las Vegas (which I attended). These included a poker game called Hold 'Em, and BitLocker Secure Online Key Backup which will let Vista Ultimate users safely store a backup copy of their BitLocker recovery password and Encrypting File System (EFS) recovery certificates in their digital locker on the Microsoft Windows Marketplace website.
Justin Hutchinson also showed off another Ultimate Extra at CES called GroupShot [video - 68 sec], but Microsoft made it clear in the Vista Lab that this Ultimate is still in development, and that no date has been set for its release, nor that the product shown off by Justin Hutchinson represented the final product.
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