Comments

1. kitron

   
   Posted on: July 04, 2007 at 8:50PM  

   I don't even care about getting any extras at this point.  I just wished this whole Extras team started working on converting windows apps to WPF.  Microsoft needs to get its act together and fast.  How can you look at Vista and think it is cool, sure the UI is improved and looks nice(I prefer it over the OSx) but all the applications look the same.  What is the incentive to move to Vista.  XP users will take a hard look at OSx before moving to Vista.
2. newscientist2000

   
   Posted on: July 05, 2007 at 1:29AM  

   Speaking of OSx... a real nice Ultimate Extra would be support for Linux and OSx filesystems so you could read write to a linux or Mac OSx partition from within Vista.  Sure you could argue that this could encourage people to make the switch from Windows to MacOSx or Linux, however if this was an Ultimate only extra I would doubt that would be the case.

   But lets face reality most regular people like Windows a lot, I myself run PCLinuxOS2007 on my machine next to Windows, and its good, but not yet a complete Windows replacement, for someone who isnt into tech as much as me the leap is bigger.  Sure Linux is a threat, but then hardware (e.g. printers) and software (e.g. Office 2007) support is kinda lacking enough to drive the average user away and back to Windows.  Don't even mention gaming on Linux, thats a real weakness of the free OS!

   Also Windows Vista runs pretty good on a 2 grand Mac, so long as Microsoft could sell Ultimate to those rich Mac users they'ld be getting some more cash.
3. kitron

   
   Posted on: July 05, 2007 at 2:10AM  

   I agree with you on Linux as I don't think people will make the switch to that but OSx is a different story.  I am afraid that for most people the Macbooks are good enough at around 1100$ and they would rather get that than lets say spend about the same amount to get a machine that can run Vista Ultimate properly.  Style is important these days and thats what Apple bets on.

   As far as gaming goes, pc gaming is not as strong as it used to be and I read countless times that people won't switch to Vista because games run slow.

   Microsoft has the potential to correct all these problems but they need to do it fast.
4. shollomon

   
   Posted on: July 05, 2007 at 2:32PM  

   Some suggestions for ultimate extras:

   -ssh at the command line and sftp support in explorer

   -much greater ability to customize the look and feel of desktop elements.  Things like skinning the taskbar (heck you can't even really change its color now), change windows decorations, per application window transparency/translucency (transparent consoles, yes) and whatever else.  Think KDE.
5. Nick White

   
   Posted on: July 05, 2007 at 3:52PM  

   Hey newscientist2000 and Bring More Extras NOW:  I read every comment and 99.9% of them are automatically and immediately posted to the blog w/o any sort of censorship.  There is a spam filter on the blog that catches suspect comments and puts them in a queue for later review, and at times I'm only able to do this periodacally, so there can sometimes be a delay in getting your comment posted if it happens to trip the spam filter.  Aside from those, unless you include objectionable language or engages in a personal attack (let me say that threatening to hack this blog is coming dangerously close to that line), all comments are posted immediately and uncensored.  

   We're not interested in only posting good news, but instead having a productive dialogue that helps us improve our products.  If we all adhere to that tenet, it will make reading and writing this blog a worthwhile experience for all.
6. brand

   
   Posted on: July 11, 2007 at 9:25AM  

   "Windows DreamScene and the remaining Language Packs. Windows DreamScene and the remaining Language Packs."

   "satan is good, satan is our pal. satan is good, satan is our pal."

   I'm sooo pumped for the 20 language packs!  I can't wait to see my windows in 20 more languages!  I'm soo happy I bought windows ultimate!
7. LintMan

   
   Posted on: July 12, 2007 at 3:04PM  

   I have to say I've been disappointed with the Ultimate support as well, and the extra language packs and finalized Dream Scene don't really help.

   One suggestion maybe you can pass to them: make the XP powertoys an Ultimate extra.  Fancy new "Vista-fied" versions of them can wait; just direct copies of the XP ones would be fine for now.  A programmer there could probably make the cool powertoys calc work in Vista in an hour (no reason it shouldn't already work except it checks the OS version).  A Vista-equivalent TweakUI would take more effort, but would be a great Extra just by itself.
8. newscientist2000

   
   Posted on: July 13, 2007 at 1:49AM  

   Thanks Nick for the reply, I havent noticed any bias on the blog with regards to posts.  However a few of my posts dont appear immediately usually though theyre long ones that may be more prone to getting caught by a spam filter.

   Kinda like my yahoo uk email which was once blocked at my work because when I logged in/out the webaddress was "gdgflogin" and the word starting at f apparently is bad, although in the context of login in you can see that there was absolutely nothing bad about it.
9. Seadog

   
   Posted on: July 14, 2007 at 2:16AM  

   Hi Nick

    Now then what about the problem with the intel chip and SCSI. Dreamscene just crashes  when it does not come out of sleep (SCSI)?Reboot . The windows explorer error
10. Nick White

    
    Posted on: July 17, 2007 at 3:32PM  

    Hey Seadog:  can you please try re-posting your comment, as it seems not to have made it through entirely?