I recently downloaded the new Windows Vista Ultimate Extras pack and I was surprised to see that a new game had been released. Tinker is a 3D puzzle game targeted towards the casual office/classroom/bored at home gamer.

I fired the game up to see what Microsoft had to offer, namely the tutorial mode, and got ready for disappointment.

From the beginning Tinker seemed like a solid offering but as soon as I clicked the "Controls" link in the menu I knew I wouldn't enjoy the game.

It seems that Microsoft wanted to go against the grain with the control scheme and completely omitted the mouse (a standard peripheral that has been used for more than 20 years) and seemed to forget that WASD keys have pretty much replaced the arrow keys.

The fun didn't stop at the fact that you move your character with the arrow keys, because most of the functions like pause, record video (admittedly useful), and retry level are all number keys! The + and - keys allow you to rotate the "playing board" to see different angles, but guess where they are? Above the arrow keys and to the left, or on the calculator number pad. In a time trial type puzzle game, seconds and co-ordination are lost trying to use your right hand to hit the + or - keys which wouldn't have been so poorly placed if you were using WASD.

Alternatively, why not make left and right clicks of the mouse rotate the board accordingly?

The space bar acts as the "action" key and is well placed due to your left thumb being able to hit it; it's not like it's doing anything else anyway, with the whole WASD down the drain.

Enough complaining about the obvious and deal-breaking pitfalls of the game though.

The graphics are simple and easy for any computer meeting the 3.0 performance index (I'm assuming) to handle. The game comes in a 32-bit version only but it runs fine in a 64-bit environment.

As I've only played the tutorials, I can't speak for much of the game that I haven't explored yet, but I can say that the puzzles themselves are interesting. There's even a level builder that you can download to create your own puzzles for yourself or friends.

Overall the control scheme really destroys the experience for me. In the game, time counts, and so does the number of "moves" you make (rotations of character, forwards, back, actions). This means that while I was fooling around with the bad controls, I was losing energy (requires one unit per "move") and I was racking up "move" and time penalties and deductions. With a new control scheme this game could easily become addicting and possibly even secure itself a spot in the "not so bad offerings" of the recent generation of puzzle games.

Until then, it's just going to enjoy the splendors of bit-rot in some lonesome, castaway sector of my hard disk.

In defense of Ultimate, it's few extras are handy and helpful and can be great for certain tasks. One of my favorite features of the OS is the ability to have 2 physical CPUs, versus only being able to use one in Home Basic and Home Premium. The Remote Desktop Connection is also handy for using your PC from another computer, if you left it at home for vacation or don’t feel like going into the office to edit a document or two. In my opinion, Windows Vista Ultimate just isn’t worth the extra $80 over Home Premium. DreamScene and BitLocker and all of the other features are nice, but Ultimate in general has disappointed me. What do you think of Microsoft's premium operating system? Is it worth the price hike over the other versions?

-John

Vista Ultimate Sounds Glass / Pearl

Update 28.04.2008 16:29h: Der Link verweist jetzt auch Rapidshare, wo sich die Dateien befinden.

So this evening I was feeling lucky and decided to take the plunge and update Vista tp Servcie Pack 1. Now, it wasn't automatically coming up through the Windows Update, I had to check for updates first. The download file was only 69MB. I guess I already had the majority of the updates necessary for the update. The file took about 20 minutes to download (Microsoft servers must be taking a pounding tonight). Normally I can download a 70MB file in under a minute. I live in New York and Cablevision is my ISP. Their Broadband service (Optimum OnLine) is amazing.

Anyway, after downloading the file the install began. I recieved a welcome screen and a License agreement screen....clicked OK and off we go. The SP1 install did some work for about 5 minutes and then rebooted my PC. When the PC came back up it started a 3 step install process. Once completed, I was brought to the login screen. The whole update took about 30 minutes. There were no errors and so far all is working okay. This is definitely the first time that I upgraded a Service Pack and it went this smoothly. I must tip my hat to Microsoft on this one.

The majority of the updates in SP1 are bug fixes and performance tweaks. No new shining features and no Windows Ultimate Extras...WTF???

As I continue to look around my PC I will definitely keep a close eye on any performance enhancements. Here is a list of the updates that come with SP1. The list is huge, it's alot of reading, so gear up.

Here are some of the things I look forward to from Vista:

1. Vista Ultimate Extras - I paid a premium for Ultimate and I want more than "Hold'em" and "Dreamscene".
2. Sound Card - I want to see manufacturer's make a sound card specifically designed for Vista's Open AL standard
3. Direct X 10 - It's been over a year people, show me why DX 10 is so revolutionary
4. Better HD - more support for High Definition content. WMP11 is way behind as compared to QuickTime. Even streaming video in the SD format is horrible in WMP11

In conclusion, I'm very satisfied with my Vista SP1 upgrade experience. Let's see if it makes a difference.

To commemorate this important date, I will launch a new category of Extras: the Ultimate Extras. These Extras can be about anything and can be posted anytime.

Feel free to comment on the new Extras!

P.S.: Keep sending me questions to be posted on Sundays and keep answering questions if you want to earn points and contribute to the success of this blog :)

Hi there Windows Ultimate Extras,

This is an automated message to remind you it has been 81 days since your last activity on October 23, 2007 when you announced 19 languages packs for Windows Vista. Très Bien!

We’d like to remind you we’ve been eagerly awaiting more “cutting-edge programs“, “innovative services” and “unique publications” from you.

As a reminder, here is your current contribution so far in the last 12 months since Windows Vista Ultimate has been on the market.
- Windows DreamScene
- Hold’ Em Poker Game
- BitLocker and EFS Tools
- 35 Language Packs

In case you’re running a little short on ideas, here’s a few simple ones to help you get back on track.
- Premium high-resolution wallpapers pack
- Premium DreamScene videos
- Arcade or puzzle games (ex. Peggle)
- Windows Media Player 11 skins or visualizations
- Windows DVD Maker menu themes
- Windows Photo Gallery slideshow themes
- Extended free trials of Windows Live OneCare
- Premium Internet Explorer 7 add-ons

If you have forgotten how to get in touch with us, your customers, we’d like to remind you of your blog at www.windowsultimate.com which you can write on to keep us in-the-loop of any ideas or progress you’re making. Don’t be afraid to post smaller but more frequent updates.

Thanks, passionate Windows Vista Ultimate users.

I, as well as many others, immediately downloaded the update and the extended content pack. The latter holding a whopping total of 3 additional scenes ! (1) Another riverfall - quite nice to look at, (2) A glowing Vista orb and (3) some machinelike looking futuristic whatever....

Is that all(!) Of course in the WindowsVistablog it was pointed out that with the DeskScapes add-on from Stardock you could also play back .dreams clips, a wealth of which you could find on the Stardock WinCustomize site....

True. The Dreamscenes are appealing to the eye - but for how long? For now I have it turned on, and it remains to be seen for how long that will continue. As for the comments on how much the CPU is taxed with DreamScenes on; on my system the load when "only" having Dreamscenes going (plus all the resident programs in the taskbar as well as the sidebar with numerous gadgets) the CPU is taxed between 30-50%...

I have been waiting for something like an Ultimate Extra add-on, something useful and handy, and that is all for now? Come on Microsoft - You need to do better that that. This was disappointing.

Yesterday...I was looking around for something funny for Vista...and i found something VERY FUNNY...the Cool Windows DreamScene extension, this extension simply allows videos and other optimized animations to be used as desktop wallpapers. ; no, not exactly like VLC, the difference is that DreamScene, instead of using the CPU time it makes use of GPU (video card), this is a very remarkable difference if you're interested in performances,
...anyway it seems that this extension is only available to English users of Windows Vista Ultimate (or, to people with English Language Pack installed in Windows Vista)...

...it seems...

BUT,

as usual it is not...

I mean, you don't need Vista Ultimate to use DreamScene, you could use
it with Vista Home, Home Premium,Business...whatever you want, in fact
you don't even need the English version of Vista, but the language version, you prefer...Italian, French....

you can follow the original instruction I've found at this site:

NAME OBVIOUSLY TOO LONG....

but, the instructions corrected are following (in red):

first of all download somewhere, a file called NonUltimateDreamScene.zip, if you can't find it, post a comment or e-mail ..maybe I can help you...

1. Download the patched DreamScene files as above and unpack to a folder.
2. Copy DreamScene.dll to %WinDir%\System32\ folder.
3. Copy DreamScene.dll.mui to %WinDir%\System32\en-US\ folder.
4. Copy this file also to your language folder (if your language is italian \System32\it-IT ; if french \System32\fr-FR and so on...)
5. In Windows Explorer, navigate to %WinDir%\System32\ folder.
6. Right click on themecpl.dll file, and click on Properties on right click menu.
7. Select the Security tab, then click Advanced.
8. Subsequently select the Owner tab, click Edit button. Press Continue
   (or log in if you’re not Administrator) on any User Access Control
   prompt.
9. Select your Vista logon user name, then click OK button. Then click
   OK in any dialog window that pops up, and press OK again at Advanced
   Security Settings window.
10. On Security tab, click the Edit button. Press Continue (or log in
    if you’re not already an Administrator) on User Access Control prompt.
11. Click Add button, and click on Advanced button. Next press Find Now
    button, and then select your logged on user name. Press OK when done.
12. Click OK again on Select Users or Groups dialog.
13. On Permissions for themecpl.dll window, highlight your user name,
    and check the box next to “Full Control” under “Allow” column. Hit OK
    when done, and confirm any message. Click OK twice to exit from
    ownership taking process.
14. Resuming passages from 5 to 14 -> " Get the ownership and write access to themecpl.dll "
15. Rename the file themecpl.dll in %WinDir%\System32 to themecpl.dll.original.
16. Copy the patched version of themecpl.dll to %WinDir%\System32\ folder.
17. Repeat step 4 - 12 on themecpl.dll.mui file located in %WinDir%\System32\en-US\ folder.
18. Repeate the passages even to the same file located to your language folder (System32\fr-FR and so on...)
19. After taking ownership, rename the file %WinDir%\System32\en-US\themecpl.dll.mui to themecpl.dll.mui.original.
20. Copy the patched version of themecpl.dll.mui to %WinDir%\System32\en-US\ folder.
21. The last two passages must be repeted to your language file folder
22. Create a new folder in %windir%\Web named “Windows DreamScene”
    (without quotes). This is the location to place all your videos want to
    set as DreamScene wallpaper, and can be easily configured via Control
    Panel Personalization applet.
23. Lastly, import and merge DreamScene.reg to registry.
24. Reboot computer.

Question: What is %windir% ?
Answer: %Windir% is a environment variable, that means "my windows folder", usually it is the good and old "c:\windows".

Tip: I've never liked c:\WINNT, folder name and syntax...

Known-Issue: After the patching activities, the Monitor Applet of Control Panel is in English....it works perfectly anyway...

Hope this was useful.

Playing   "Five Satins - In The Still Of The Night"
             "Byrds - Mr. Tambourine Man"  

Ok so i got Windows Vista Ultimate because i thought i would get lots of cool stuff that other versions simply won't have, how wrong was i? :(

So far we have a Dreamscene Beta application that hasn't been update since release, a simple poker style card game and bit locker that i will never use.

This is really disappointing and to make matters worse Microsoft said that by the end of Summer they would bring out the full Dreamscene video wallpaper app along with the dream packs and 20 more language packs too. When i first saw this news i let a little slack and thought to myself "at least there trying".

Now if im not mistaken the leaves on the trees are looking quite orange and Autumn's is begging to settle in and still we have nothing!

I mean seriously did they think we would just forget about that extra cash we forked out? As far as im concerned the only thing we have gained so far is the nice black box it comes in.

So i speak for all the ultimate users out there when i say MICROSOFT GET OF YOUR BEHINDS AND GIVE US OUR MONEYS WORTH!

Stardock has let out deskscapes 1.1, the update allows you to use dynamic dreams that react to stuff like time of day weather and local weather, these dynamic dreams also take a lot less CPU as a bonus. Don't be getting your hopes up wondering what dynamic dreams have came out with the new release because there ain't any. What is the point in release 1.1 with dynamic content support when there is no dynamic content you may ask? well if you ask me there isn't. Hold on to your horses as stardock should release some very soon I'm hope that the virtual each one is the first with is basically a globe that recast to the time of day and position of the earth.

• Windows DreamScene - have high quality video as your desktop background;
• BitLocker and EFS enhancements - Tool for assisting in drive preparation for BitLocker and the ability to store Bitlocker and EFS certificates to Digital Locker, Microsoft's secure online marketplace;
• Hold 'em Poker - well I guess the name says it all;
• Exclusive digital publications - including collections of tricks and tips;
• Groupshot - An extra-ised version of the Microsoft Research tool that allows you to choose the best bits from a group of photo's and merge them together to get the perfect shot.

More information is available from Long Zheng and WindowsUltimate.com (stay tuned to this one as I am sure more stuff will be coming out soon).

Update: Just pure speculation after thinking about these a bit more, but I would suggest the BitLocker / EFS ability to upload certificates is going to stir up some trouble. Imagine you can securely encrypt your hard drive, then give Microsoft a copy of the keys. Personally I doubt they would use them for nafarious purposes, but the tin foil brigade may have different ideas.

Also, I wonder if there is going to be a Boot Screen Ultimate Extra allowing the user to build a custom boot screen to replace the minimalistic progress bar?

It seems Microsoft have released yet another version of Windows Vista, this time though, the only different is the nifty signature of the worlds richest man and a limited edition number.

The price? $259 USD from Amazon.