Comments

1. Nick White

   
   Posted on: September 27, 2007 at 2:58PM  

   Hey deveaujr:  we're not equipped to handle support requests here on the blog, so I would encourage you to direct your inquiry one of to our public newsgroups:  http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/communities/newsgroups/en-us/default.mspx.
2. Nick White

   
   Posted on: September 27, 2007 at 3:21PM  

   Hey james007:  please direct your question to one of our public newsgroups, thanks:  http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/communities/newsgroups/en-us/default.mspx.
3. omgbbq

   
   Posted on: September 27, 2007 at 3:59PM  

   Thanks for the post. Could you explain why MUI language packs are deemed Ultimate Extras? I was expecting more features and applications. Also, why are these Extra releases taking so long?  Does Microsoft not have a team dedicated to this project? I'm glad the team has admitted they are behind, but it doesn't seem like much progress is being made with yet another delay.

   I criticize because I want your stuff to be good. :)
4. Nick White

   
   Posted on: September 28, 2007 at 12:28AM  

   Hey omgbbq:  lay it on, we can take it :)

   We *do* have a team dedicated to this project, despite conjecture in the community; in fact, I spoke with them just today.  They are working to get the language packs ready for release next month.  We'll have to fix an issue that corrupted their installation on some systems before we'll deploy them, however.

   We also have a pipeline of Extras in the works that we'll reveal soon, so stay tuned.
5. Slimsl

   
   Posted on: September 29, 2007 at 12:24AM  

   Sorry to be rude but :( what you guys thinking whats the target why vista dose not think about business clients, most of my hospitality related  softwares are running nuts some dose not run at all. not only software why this cant be friendly with office environment do we really need this fancy stuff i know they are on demand, but try to think different what system mangers and system administrators like to see on upcoming business editions. vista business edition just the same crap.
6. Xepol

   
   Posted on: October 02, 2007 at 3:10AM  

   Nick, since you are in contact with the somewhat mythical ultimates team, perhaps you could sit a few of them down and show them what a blog is (and explain the difference between "announcements" and "blog" so that they know about letting people post comments back to them instead of relying on a mysterious posting page that acts like a digital blackhole) ??

   Perhaps, just perhaps, if the team was a little more active in their blogging, they would no longer be considered to be distant cousins of the unicorn, chupacabra, the lochness monster and big foot.  Plus I am betting that people would feel more like work is getting done and less like a guy standing naked in all but one sock in front of a 3 card monty table after the dealer leaves for an "emergency".

   If they would only INTERACT with the world a little, they could be more like the new Microsoft and appear less like the old arrogent, uncaring and abusive Microsoft.

   Seriously, someone teach them to blog (with a system that allows comments) - they are gonna take a lot of flack in the short term (could have been avoided, now they'll just have to weather the storm), but it will definitely improve things in the long term (mending fences, seeming human & caring, that sorta thing).
7. Nick White

   
   Posted on: October 02, 2007 at 8:13PM  

   Hey Xepol:  I definitely hear where you're coming from and am making sure that the Extras team hears you, too.  I'm doing what I can to get them to reconsider how they interact with the Windows community.  Thanks for the input, and for hanging in there with us.
8. AlenL

   
   Posted on: October 04, 2007 at 4:54AM  

   So does anyone know if mpeg thumbnails will be available for mpeg files much like WMV files? With the latest update from Dreamscene the new files they released are MPEG and thus have default icons in the browser when you go to backgrounds. Dosn't seem as polished as seeing the cool previews of the other wmv's.
9. Xepol

   
   Posted on: October 04, 2007 at 11:38PM  

   AlenL -> Actually, it was discussed at one point (but I'm having a little trouble finding the reference just now).  This is actually a limitation of the thumbnailing system.

   It runs the video for a fixed period of time and tries to find a frame that meets certain requirements for brightness to avoid the solid black thumbnails that were so common in XP.  If it doesn't find anything that meets its requirements, it just uses the default icon.

   Slower machines get less frames in that time frame meaning that slower machines have less of a chance to find a suitable frame.  Recent hotpacks have reduced the time limit even further to improve shell responsiveness, making the limit even smaller.

   Sadly, you can't seem to tune any of limits, so even scenes like the waterfall which are bright in the center but have a lot of dark fringes fail to pass muster and you still don't get a thumbnail.

   I think the thumbnailing system was better when it would give a black square myself, at least it was consistant in that you only got no thumbnail when the video was corrupt.  If I could change the  system, I would set it so that it returns the most suitable frame, regardless of the fact that the computer thought it was a black square.  Letting us fine tune the threshold might be nice too.

   Nick -> I hope you get it through to them, because I don't think the current system is even remotely working.  If nothing else, if you want to know what makes customers happy, you might want to talk with them.
10. AlenL

    
    Posted on: October 05, 2007 at 3:09AM  

    Thanks for the feedback Xepol!