Is Ultimate Extras a Sham?  

334 members have voted

  1. 1. Are you satisfied by the value of Ultimate Extras?

    • Yes
      55
    • What Ultimate Extras?
      43
    • No
      236


Recommended Posts

The extras are just the extras - not the reason to purchase!

Obviously no one should expect any more extras, MS really has no obligation to provide any more of them. But from a customer satisfaction point of view, it sure is a good way to get people upset.

You can't say MS never marketed Ultimate as something more than just business and premium combined. Look at the Windows Ultimate page Windows Ultimate page. They made a special site for Ultimate owners, and tried to make it seem/feel like a community site were users can remain in close contact and have some kind of relationship with the "Ultimate Extras" team. As it stands that page doesn't look like it's been updated in the past 3 months.

Edited by geoken
Why? No one promised an Extra every month or so... :roll: It's customers' expectations that will get them upset, and it ain't MS' fault.

True, they didn't promise anything. But it is normal for people to set minimum expectations. For example, there's no "promise" that Microsoft will improve the performance reliability of its operating systems after release, but it is expected they do. There is no promise when you buy a TV/music subscription service there will be more content added, but is expected there is.

The expectation isn't particularly high. They don't even have to deliver any 'extras' in the immediate future, but at least give a roadmap or schedule on what they intend to do over the coming weeks/months/years.

A very expensive and sad joke. :( I'm somewhat surprised that no one has attempted to sue Microsoft over it.

Sue for something that is free for Ultimate users?

This is the main reason to get Vista Ultimate:

Vista Ultimate = Vista Business features + Vista Home Premium features

Free? :laugh: Microsoft .. Free? :laugh: Ultimate Extras Free? :laugh: *gasp* :| You're funny, very funny.

Windows Vista Ultimate. This edition provides a superset of all the features of the other editions of Windows Vista, including the media capabilities of Windows Vista Home Premium and the business features of Windows Vista Business. It adds Windows BitLocker Drive Encryption to help protect data on a lost or stolen PC. Windows Vista Ultimate also offers Windows Ultimate Extras, free downloads that extend functionality or provide new features.

Nobody forced you to buy Ultimatet. Also you can find paid and free alternates to all 4 Extras out now.

Example Dreamscene -> VLC player's Wallpaper mode.

Considering the upgrade version of Ultimate costs nearly the same as full Business or Home Premium...

...and that I had a valid XP Pro install ...

...

... I don't see how it wasn't worth the price.

Why buy a full Business when I can get Ultimate for nearly the same, and get a few goodies for the difference in price. A simple poker game would cost about 10 in the store, a cool desktop background program that lets you use your own videos would probably be another 10. Just about the difference in cost between Business (full) and Ultimate (upgrade).

Frankly though, I'd rather have had Dreamscene as a screensaver instead of a desktop.

Eh, that's about all Vista is anyway. Extra crap included in XP. Kind of like Windows Me was to 98SE, and just as bad of an upgrade!!

:laugh: Oh man, ignorance like this really amuses me! Thanks for the laugh!

Ultimate Extras truly is a joke. Just reading the extra page in control panel, I ask myself, "Did Microsoft really follow through with everything here?". Aside from the single add-on pack, I know of no "premium services" or content that have been given to us.

Ultimate Extras truly is a joke. Just reading the extra page in control panel, I ask myself, "Did Microsoft really follow through with everything here?". Aside from the single add-on pack, I know of no "premium services" or content that have been given to us.

Are you impatient or something? Vista has been out for less than 6 months. They'll give us something, but it'll definitely take some time.

Are you impatient or something? Vista has been out for less than 6 months. They'll give us something, but it'll definitely take some time.

Speculate all you want, the fact of the matter is that Microsoft is disappointing a large amount of Ultimate users with a lack of content.

I'd rather they work on SP1 than some goodies. Yes, I have Vista Ultimate.

I think such a large company should have no problem accomplishing BOTH. The way it looks now, SP1 will more than likely be a rollup of updates for easier deployment, and just that.

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
  • Posts

    • BATorrent 3.0.2 by Razvan Serea BATorrent is a lightweight, open-source BitTorrent client built with modern C++ and Qt 6, offering a clean, fast, and privacy-focused alternative to traditional torrent apps. It supports magnet links, .torrent files, resume data, sequential downloading, per-file priorities, and even imports from qBittorrent. Power users benefit from integrated RSS auto-download with regex filtering, duplicate detection, and automatic tracker lists from Stremio. Streaming is seamless thanks to auto-detected players like VLC and IINA. BATorrent includes robust VPN tools—interface binding, auto-detection for WireGuard-based services like Mullvad and NordLynx, kill switch, proxy support, and IP filtering. A full WebUI enables remote control, while integrations with Plex, Jellyfin, and Emby automate library updates. With themes, speed scheduling, system-tray alerts, and cross-platform support for Windows, Linux, and macOS, BATorrent delivers a polished, high-performance torrenting experience. BATorrent features: Core .torrent file and magnet link support Resume data — picks up where you left off after restart Import torrents from qBittorrent Create .torrent files from any file or folder Sequential download mode Per-file priority control (skip, low, normal, high) Seed ratio limits with auto-pause DHT, PEX, UPnP, NAT-PMP RSS Auto-Download Subscribe to RSS feeds — automatically download new torrents as they appear Regex filters — match only what you want (e.g. 1080p|720p, S01E\d+) Per-feed settings — custom save path, check interval (5–1440 min), enable/disable Auto-download — matched items are downloaded automatically in the background Supports magnet links, .torrent URLs, and tags Tray notifications when items are auto-downloaded Duplicate detection — never downloads the same item twice Stremio Stremio Addon System pre-installed — works out of the box Auto tracker list from ngosang/trackerslist Streaming Play while downloading — stream video files before the download is complete Supports mp4, mkv, avi, mov, wmv, flv, webm, m4v, ts Auto-detects installed players (VLC, IINA, system default) VPN & Privacy Interface binding — lock torrent traffic to a specific network interface (e.g. tun0) Auto VPN detection — identifies VPN interfaces (tun, tap, WireGuard, Mullvad, NordLynx, ProtonVPN) Kill switch — automatically pauses all torrents if the VPN interface drops Auto-resume — resumes only the torrents paused by the kill switch when VPN reconnects Proxy support — SOCKS5 and HTTP proxy with optional authentication IP filtering — load P2P blocklists to block unwanted IP ranges Protocol encryption (enabled / forced / disabled) WebUI Remote management — control torrents from any browser at http://localhost:8080 REST API with JSON responses Add torrents via magnet link or .torrent upload Pause, resume, remove torrents remotely View peers and files per torrent Dark theme matching the desktop app HTTP Basic Auth with SHA-256 password hashing Configurable port and remote access (localhost vs 0.0.0.0) Interface 3 themes: Dark, Light, Midnight (bat/vampire aesthetic) Real-time speed graph Detailed panel with tabs: General, Peers, Files, Trackers Filter bar: search by name, filter by state (Active, Downloading, Seeding, Paused, Finished) Drag & drop .torrent files and magnet links Drag & drop reorder in torrent list System tray with notifications (download complete, kill switch events, RSS auto-downloads) Splash screen with bat animation Bilingual: English and Portuguese (BR), auto-detected from system locale Bandwidth Scheduler Alternative speed limits — set different download/upload limits on a schedule Time range — configure active hours (e.g. 01:00 to 07:00), supports overnight ranges Per-day control — choose which days of the week the schedule applies Automatically switches between normal and alternative speeds Media Server Integration Plex — automatically trigger library scan when a download completes Jellyfin / Emby — same automatic library refresh via API Configure server URL and authentication token/key in Settings System Cross-platform: Windows, Linux, macOS Auto-shutdown — automatically shut down PC when all downloads complete (60s cancellable countdown) Auto-update system (AppImage on Linux, installer on Windows, DMG on macOS) CLI arguments: pass .torrent files or magnet: URIs directly Keyboard shortcuts: Space to toggle pause, Ctrl+A to select all, Ctrl+O to open BATorrent 3.0.2 changelog: Phone pairing & WebUI The browser WebUI was reskinned to match the desktop app — same dark palette, Inter font, flat surfaces, the real BATorrent logo (it was a random bat before), and a proper magnet icon. It now looks like the same product, not a separate dashboard. Pairing is one tap and zero typing: the generated WebUI password is now copyable, and the QR code carries the credentials — scanning it from your phone logs straight in (no typing the IP or password), then drops the credentials from the address bar. Search Two new providers: RuTor (CIS sources, no login, via a public TorAPI relay) and Torrents-CSV. Results are sorted by seeders (healthiest first), and each search now times out after 15 s so one dead provider can't hang the UI. Files & trackers Per-file priority is back: right-click a file in the detail panel to set Skip / Low / Normal / High. Rename an individual file inside a torrent (double-click or the file menu), separate from renaming the torrent. Remove a tracker from a torrent (the ✕ on a tracker row); adding was already there. Smart Paste on Ctrl+V — paste a magnet, a 40-char info-hash, or a .torrent URL straight from the clipboard and it's added immediately (text fields still paste text normally). Covers & titles Anime fansub naming ([Group] Title - NN) now resolves to the right show. Audio channel layouts in titles (DDP5.1, 7.1, …) are stripped so they don't pollute cover matching. Under the hood The legacy QWidget interface is gone. QML had been the only UI since 3.0.0 (reachable old code lived behind a hidden --legacy flag); with parity confirmed, the entire QWidget layer — main window, every dialog, the theme manager — was removed (~13,400 lines). The four restored actions above were features that backend already supported but the QML port had never wired. macOS: the WebUI password hash moved out of the keychain into app settings, so launching the app no longer pops a login-keychain password prompt on unsigned builds. The actual password still lives in the keychain. Cleanup: ~400 orphaned translation strings and a batch of dead code removed; internal duplication collapsed; an ARCHITECTURE.md added for contributors. Unit / security / memory tests and the ASan/UBSan/TSan sanitizers stay green. Download: BATorrent 3.0.2 | 30.5 MB (Open Source) Download: BATorrent Portable | 42.3 MB Links: BATorrent Website | Screenshot Get alerted to all of our Software updates on Twitter at @NeowinSoftware
    • How about a global switch to turn the awful things off instead of a registry hack? Then everyone wins.
    • This doesn't strike me as so shocking when... " IT admins do have some control over this rollout. If they choose to opt out, devices in their tenant won't automatically get the dreaded Copilot app"
  • Recent Achievements

    • Mentor
      grik went up a rank
      Mentor
    • Dedicated
      JKR earned a badge
      Dedicated
    • One Year In
      CHUNWEI earned a badge
      One Year In
    • Conversation Starter
      FBSPL earned a badge
      Conversation Starter
    • Week One Done
      I2D earned a badge
      Week One Done
  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      468
    2. 2
      PsYcHoKiLLa
      257
    3. 3
      Skyfrog
      79
    4. 4
      ATLien_0
      60
    5. 5
      FloatingFatMan
      60
  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!