On September 28th, users of Windows Media Center for Windows Vista (in the U.S. at this time) will see a new option under “TV + Movies” - the beta version of Internet TV . Internet TV Beta streams high-quality video content from MSN Video ( which just Read More……(read more)

• Windows Vista Team Blog : 10 Things ? Windows Media Center Movie Browser
  For those using Home Premium or Ultimate, the Movie Browser is another one of those functions that's available but many don't know about.
  (tags: Review Media Center )
• Internet statistics reveal Vista?s lack of acceptance.
  I doubt it's a very scientific study, but some stats suggest Vista only makes up 3% of web browsing. I'm sure if I look at my logs, my stats would suggest almost everyone is using Vista. Who's right? Who cares.
  (tags: PR )
• MISSING: Vista Ultimate Language Packs
  Apparently the Vista Ultimate Language Packs disappeared for a bit, but are now back.
  (tags: Ultimate Language Extras )
• Vista DWM-Based Virtual Desktop Manager
  Create as many virtual desktops as you wish, and access them with keyboard shortcuts.
  (tags: Software Desktop DWM )
• Vista will never run well on mobile devices
  JK explains why Vista won't run well on mobile devices for the foreseeable future.
  (tags: Opinion Review )
• Ad-Aware now Vista compatible
  If you?ve made the switch to Windows Vista, your favorite anti-spyware is now compatible to make sure you are protected against the latest security threats that will inevitably sneak into your computer?and into your life!
  (tags: Software Compatibility )

I know it’s just because we’re the coolest box that you picked ours to abuse. And, while I like Emerald and Ruby fine as names, if you want all the features, come on, you want ours. Does Ruby sound more ultimate than Ultimate? No. If Microsoft adopted a gem theme, we’d be Dawnstone.

WSUS and Ultimate Extras

Many Ultimate users will have never heard of WSUS, but a vocal minority will be interested in this blog entry. Currently, if your computer is administered by WSUS 2.5, you cannot install Ultimate Extras. So what’s going on?

First, for those not in the know, WSUS is Windows Server Update Services, a technology that allows IT administrators to deploy the latest Microsoft product updates to their users’ computers, or block updates they do not want users to install. If you are a home user, it is very unlikely WSUS is in your house (and you know if it is). However, if you are running Windows at work, then your company may have deployed WSUS.

If you want to see if your computer is administered by WSUS, it is easy. Open the Windows Update control panel and look at the line of text which begins “You receive updates:” If the text after that is “Managed by your system administrator” then WSUS is active, otherwise, not.

This all is very technical, and might sound pretty far afield from Windows Ultimate and Ultimate Extras, but it’s not. For instance, a number of small businesses are choosing Ultimate for its complete feature set and Extras, and WSUS to reduce administration costs. In any case, Extras are not available for WSUS admins to deploy, so computers in WSUS-managed domains cannot install any Extras.

That’s not a good situation for customers, so we plan to improve it. The Ultimate team is working with Windows Update to revise the Extras to be offered to WSUS.

This change will mean all users of Ultimate—even business users, provided their IT administration approves—will have the choice of installing Ultimate Extras. Administrators will still be able to block offering and installation of Extras, so our team can’t tell every user they can get Extras, but more of you will have the option.

Why was it not this way from the beginning? We’re a small team, and Ultimate was designed more as a consumer-focused edition of Windows Vista. We cut support for WSUS at launch to reduce the test burden, and because we didn’t think many WSUS environments would deploy Ultimate. We’re hearing that we were wrong, so all the Wave Zero Extras will be offered to WSUS later this year. There will be either an announcement on this site, or I will cover it in this blog, but we’ll let you know.

Thanks for the feedback!

While looking at our bandwidth usage spike after we posted the wallpaper, I was reminded of a conversation that Alex and I had about the Ultimate video we posted a few weeks ago. You saw the final version of the deployment (soapbox + download center), but there is a funny story behind how we decided to use those technologies that I can’t resist sharing.

The versions we posted, which are already much smaller than the original raw video, are still about 100 MB. Alex, since he was the one who put all the time into capturing the video’s content, was very eager to make it live. He thought the quickest way would be to use this site’s new download section. And of course he’s right. But that suggestion led to the following conversation.

Erik: There’s no way we should do that.
Alex: Why not?
Erik: We’ll run out of our bandwidth allotment.
Alex: Don’t we have infinite bandwidth?
Erik: Well, effectively. But not for free, we’ll start paying for it.
Alex: Really, when?
Erik: I don’t know. I haven’t seen our hosting contract.
Alex: How much are we talking? We have money for this sort of thing.
Erik: (Rapidly creating an uninformed guess.) Well, after some hundreds of downloads, say, we might pay a quarter per user.

[pause, while both do mental math using the site’s traffic]

Alex: That kind of money would be a different conversation.

A few mails to our hosting provider—and a quick round of more precise math—later, we sent mail to the Soapbox team. As we wrote on the front page, they hooked us up. So don’t fear for our poor server, or our community budget—go see the video if you’re interested. And be glad we did the math, because directing a Slashdot/Digg effect on ourselves would have been pretty… oh, you probably wish we hadn’t done the math.  However, thousands and thousands of you have been able to download the larger version from the Microsoft download center, which would not have been possible from here!

Windows DreamScene is currently available only as a preview version, but many of you have chosen to install it. In recognition of your interest, we accelerated our schedule to release a Content Pack that contains four video backgrounds, which are now available on Windows Update.

The four videos are:

• A field of thistle, with a bee gathering pollen
• The rushing water of a forest stream
• A streetlamp reflected in a puddle, with softly falling rain
• Orange wisps flowing in a computer-generated scene

We’re offering these video backgrounds only to users who have installed the Windows DreamScene Preview. However, the Content Pack will continue to be available when the final version of DreamScene is released, so don’t worry about installing the preview just so you can obtain them. The preview version is an unsupported release; it is not appropriate for users who are uncomfortable with installing prerelease software. If you’ve installed the Windows DreamScene Preview, click Check for updates in Windows Update to see the Content Pack, which is offered as an Ultimate Extra.

We plan to release additional content sometime after the final version of Windows DreamScene is released. For now, enjoy these four videos, plus the “aurora” content that was installed with the preview version. Plus, don’t forget you can use your own WMV and MPEG videos!