"The Ultimate Extras Pearl Sound Scheme further extends the intentionally-subtle design attributes of other Windows Vista default sound schemes and the Ultimate Extras Glass scheme, with a less focus on reverberant, sometimes clinking, "glassy" sounds in exchanges for a richer, milky, more percussive sonic palate. Microsoft describes Ultimate Extras Pearl Sound Scheme as follows: The sounds in this set have a sort of clinking glass root with a polished or "frosted" haze effect applied to their outer surface - this is intended to be directly analogous to the transparent "glassy" windows effects that are built into the Windows Vista chrome." From one point of view, the sounds in this set feel like they are made with glass instruments. "The Ultimate Extras Glass Sound Scheme utilizes the same design language and principals as the default Windows Vista sound scheme, however, this set has an additional glassy "edge" that can be heard as a more percussive envelope applied to each of the sounds. Microsoft describes Ultimate Extras Glass Sound Scheme as follows: You can then click the Sound Scheme drop down and select either Ultimate Extras Glass or Ultimate Extras Pearl, as shown in Figure D.įigure D The new Glass and Pearl sound schemes will appear in the Sound Scheme drop down. When the Sound tool opens, select the Sounds tab. To investigate the new Sound Schemes, open the Control Panel, select Hardware and Sound, and then click Sound.
Your system will then restart and begin step two of a three step installation procedure, during which your system will restart once more on its own.įigure C Once the download and first step of the installation is complete, you'll be prompted to restart your system. When the Extras are downloaded, you'll be prompted to restart your system, as shown in Figure C.
Then you click the Install button and work through the UAC that pops up.įigure B To download and install the new Ultimate Extras, just select the adjacent check boxes. You can then select the check boxes adjacent to the Windows DreamScene and Windows Sound Schemes, as shown in Figure B. When you click the View Available Extras link, you'll be prompted to select the updates that you want to install.
Instead, you have to get to go straight to Windows Update by clicking on Start | All Programs and selecting Windows Update on the menu.) Figure A Seeing some new Ultimate Extras listed in the Windows Update with Windows Ultimate Extras page came as quite a surprise. (Keep in mind that after the installation of SP1, you will no longer find the Windows Ultimate Extras listed on the Welcome page. Microsoft finally released some new Ultimate Extras last week in the Windows Update and the Windows Ultimate Extras page looked like the one shown in Figure A. Windows DreamScene Content Pack Favorites (4 video backgrounds).
Windows DreamScene Content Pack (4 video backgrounds).Windows DreamScene - Technical Preview with 1 video background.While a few Ultimate Extras, listed below, emerged within the first year, they were few and far between.
Many of us imagined that these extras would be similar to those found in the Plus packs for earlier versions of the Windows operating systems - all sorts of cool wallpapers, screen savers, and games specifically designed to showcase the new Aero GUI. When Microsoft launched Windows Vista in January 2007, the promise was that anyone who shelled out more money for Windows Vista Ultimate would not only get the most advanced version of the Vista operating system, but would also have access to additional special features via Windows Ultimate Extras. The Ultimate Extras story so farīefore I tell you about the new Ultimate Extras, let's take a brief look at Ultimate Extras story so far.
This blog post is also available in PDF form as a TechRepublic Download. In this edition of the Windows Vista Report, I'll take a look at these two new Ultimate Extras. The second set of Ultimate Extras is called the Windows DreamScene Content Pack #3 and consists of three new video backgrounds. The first set of new Ultimate Extras is called Windows Sound Schemes and consists of two sound schemes for Windows Vista, appropriately called Glass and Pearl. If you're running Windows Vista Ultimate and have already upgraded to SP1, then you now have access to two new Ultimate Extras.