Long Zheng wrote a funny post yesterday regarding the forgotten Windows Vista Ultimate Extras. He wrote it in the form of a reminder email that you would receive from a service after not using it for a period of time. Here’s a snippet from the article:
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.
I’m extremely disappointed that Microsoft appears to have abandoned the Ultimate Extras that they boasted as big reason power users would love to have the most expensive version. I mean really, not having heard from the Ultimate Extras “team” in nearly 3 months can only lead us to assume that a team must not even exist.
And back in July 2007, they said this:
We also intend to deliver additional Extras in the future. In addition to Windows DreamScene and the remaining Language Packs, we plan to ship a collection of additional Windows Ultimate Extras over the next couple years that we are confident will delight our passionate Windows Vista Ultimate customers. We cannot identify dates or provide details at this time—but once we ship Windows DreamScene and the remaining Language Packs, we will provide more information about the next Extras.
Huh, they shipped DreamScene and the additional language packs three months ago, and here we sit wondering what’s going on in the world of Ultimate Extras. I thought that maybe, just maybe, they would have demonstrated a cool Ultimate Extra at CES, but they didn’t. Ah well, it’s Microsoft’s reputation on the line here. They shouldn’t have made a promise that they couldn’t hold up to.
Maybe the Ultimate Extras team has be “reprioritized” to provide the [cybernetnews.com] for the OLPC project…
I sincerely think that a lawsuit is in order.
Sue the pants off those buggers.
Ya, A huge lawsuit! This is just dum……….
No lawsuits….all that’s needed is for customers to remember in the future. Vote with your feet. We have the power.
As Michael said, I don’t think a lawsuit is really necessary. It’s not like Microsoft hasn’t delivered any Ultimate Extras, but they are just pumping them out much slower than they made it seem when they were originally announced. To be honest I was expecting something new every month, even if it was something small like a package of backgrounds or some sort of skins.