What better way to celebrate the gold versions of Windows Vista Service Pack 1 and Windows XP Service Pack 3 than with a set of brand new wallpapers straight from Microsoft? And by all means, Microsoft has its own separate agenda with the wallpapers, but that shouldn't stop end users from integrating them with their favorite service pack. The fact of the matter is that as far as the Redmond company is concerned the wallpapers are intimately connected with the RoboChamps competition. RoboChamps is designed as a simulated robotics competition platform and accessible worldwide. Competitors won't be needing any hardware, as they will compete against one another only in simulated environments and with virtual robots.

There are multiple resources made available for download to potential competitors including Microsoft Visual Studio 2008, Microsoft Visual C# Express 2008 as well as Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio 2008. Along with the necessary software, participants can also download challenges, robots and environments. And to top it all off, Microsoft has thrown in some additional "Fun Stuff". A selection of 12 wallpapers are up for grabs featuring everything from the RoboChamps logo to various robot designs. With resolutions of 800x600, 1024x768 and 1900x1200 they are bound to satisfy the vast majority of users, even if they won't fit perfectly on all desktops.

On top of the wallpapers, Microsoft is also offering for download the RoboChamps Sidebar Gadget for Windows Vista, as well as four examples of what it refers to as Blog Bling. Neither Vista SP1 nor XP SP3 brought anything new to the table in terms of content. In the past year, Microsoft dropped a consistent volume of content aimed at Windows Vista users, in addition to the default wallpapers that ship with the operating system. You will be able to find five sources of unique Windows wallpapers designed and offered by Microsoft via this link. The RoboChamps backgrounds and resources can be downloaded from here.