Don't Hold Your Breath Waiting on Windows Vista Ultimate Extras

If you are among the users that have coughed up some $399 for a copy of Windows Vista Ultimate (full license), or $259 for an upgrade version, then you have access to a "luxuriant" collection of materials tailor exclusively for the high-end edition of Microsoft's latest operating system. The Ultimate Extras debuted in advance of Vista, as the platform only hit the shelves at the end of January 2007 and almost a year later, users can access Windows DreamScene, Language Packs, BitLocker and EFS Enhancements, the Hold 'Em Poker Game and... And that's it. Still, there is the promise of more to come.

"We also intend to deliver additional Extras in the future. We plan to ship a collection of additional Windows Ultimate Extras over the next couple years that we are confident will delight our passionate Windows Vista Ultimate customers", revealed Barry Goffe, Director, Windows Vista Ultimate, in July 2007. "Given our track record, it would be unwise to provide details of what comes next until I am 100% confident in our ability to deliver. Please rest assured, though, that our team is working on hard to deliver on our promise to Ultimate customers. I look forward to announcing the next Ultimate Extra", he added in October.

And then, all went quiet on the Windows Vista Ultimate Extras front, almost too quiet. A strange silence that is all too familiar to Ultimate users waiting in vain for their promised Extras. One that happened before between March and July this year. Well, since the October launch of the remaining Language Packs, users have gotten absolutely no word from the Windows Extras team. Just a case of history repeating itself. Well, at least the last time the company still had to deliver on the promise of DreamScene and the Language Packs.

Now... all that ultimate users have to look for is some vaguely defined content that will definitely cause them to shiver with delight. Even the first Service pack for Windows Vista offers a clue pointing to the faith of the ultimate Extras over the next couple of years. "SP1 modifies the text in the Ultimate Extras Control Panel to describe the Ultimate Extras program in more general terms", Microsoft revealed.