For months know, Microsoft has produced it known that it planned to position its downloadable Vista Final Additional add-ons as icing around the top tier with the Vista cake. What Microsoft hadn't made public — until January 7 — was exactly what would be part with the Ultimate line up. But at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2007 kick-off keynote by Bill Gates on Sunday night, Microsoft showed a bit of what Microsoft has planned for the first wave of Greatest Extras. And at Microsoft's Windows Vista Lab,
Office 2010 Product Key, an event for about 60 bloggers, Most Valuable Professionals (MVPs) and Windows community members held in Las Vegas on January 6 and 7, Microsoft officials filled out details about the rest of its Extras strategy. Microsoft plans to make available only to Greatest customers starting on January 30 — the day that that Vista becomes available in the retail channels — the following Additional downloadables: * A Vista-customized version with the Texas Hold 'Em poker game * Multi-user interface language (MUIL) packs,
Windows 7 Home Premium, designed to allow individuals fluent in different languages to share the same PC. Microsoft plans to make MUILs available for 35 languages,
Windows 7 Professional, in addition to English. (MUILs also are available to Vista Enterprise customers.) * BitLocker Online Secure Key Storage. Final customers will be offered a secure place to store their BitLocker encryption keys in the Online Vista Marketplace. That way, if they lose their keys, they will be able to retrieve them over the Web. (BitLocker encryption is a feature with the Ultimate and Vista Enterprise SKUs only.) * Windows DreamScene, animated wallpaper technology that allows users to run high-resolution video inside the Vista Aero Glass user interface. Microsoft and selected partners,
Microsoft Office 2007 Enterprise, starting with Stardock Corp., will be providing sample content. DreamScene has been known by the codenames "Motion Desktop," and, more recently "Borealis." * "Digital publications," a bunch of tips and tricks, blog links and other resources for getting the most out of Greatest. These are just the first few offerings under the Ultimate Extras banner. Microsoft is planning to roll out downloadables over time, company officials said. Justin Hutchinson, a group product manager for Vista,
Microsoft Office Professional 2010, showed off during Gates' keynote a bit with the capabilities of DreamScene. He also put through its paces a new a "photo-imaging" Extra developed by Microsoft Research. GroupShot allows users to combine elements of multiple pictures together into a new image. At the Vista Lab, Microsoft officials said that GroupShot. is an example of the kinds of next-generation Extras that Microsoft has in the development pipeline and won't be available as part of the first round of Final Extra downloads. Microsoft isn't going public yet with its packaging or delivery time frame for the next wave of Extras.