Windows Ultimate Extras Get A Life of Their Own

When Vista Ultimate Edition was announced, I’m sure that many people, not really needing some of the features of Ultimate, were enticed by the promise of these Extras, and put up the extra dollars to get the Ultimate Edition.

Unfortunately, the Ultimate Edition proved to be ultimately a disappointment, on many levels. One of the most disappointing things was that the “well of Ultimate Extras” was quickly the victim of a drought. as there were none released after the initial Vista introductory period.

Another ultimate disappointment, and one that this might be poised to ward off, is the one that when users do the upgrade from Vista Ultimate to Seven Ultimate, the Ultimate Extras are purposely left behind. (Had I been one of the poor suckers that bought Windows Vista Ultimate, I might have started a campaign for a suit against Microsoft. I know it would certainly caused ‘alienation of affections’!)

Neowin.net has good news for all of us, and especially good news for those Vista Ultimate owners who were so badly snubbed -

Remember Vista Ultimate Extras? Well they are back according to Paul Thurrott, but this time they will be released for free in the form of two games, Microsoft Tinker and Hold ‘Em.

Microsoft’s failed Vista Ultimate Extras were a big promise from the company of “cutting-edge programs, innovative services and unique publications.” At least they were in Vista RTM, by the time Vista SP1 was rolled out nearly all references to Vista Ultimate Extras were removed (shown below). Blogger Long Zheng called them the “ultimate con” at the time and in hindsight he was right. Microsoft made several promises of more extras which resulted in the company launching UltimatePC.com which now redirects to the Vista home-page.

Hold’Em, a Poker card game, was an original Ultimate Extra released at the same time as Vista general availability. Tinker, a 60-level robot puzzle video game, was originally released in September, 2008. Microsoft confirmed in February this year that Windows 7 Ultimate would not feature the Extras applications, claiming “our new approach to planning and building Windows doesn’t have the capacity to continue to deliver features outside the regular release cycle…as a result we don’t plan to create Ultimate Extras.”

It appears Ultimate Extras, in a small form, live to fight another day and will be available to all. Microsoft has not confirmed when Tinker and Hold’Em will be released, simply stating they are “coming soon”.

I suppose those who were told that other Ultimate Extras were on the way have their doubts here, and will remain honorary citizens of Missouri (The Show Me state) until the items become available as a download.

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