Are Exclusives and Extras the Ultimate?
 Joe Wilcox
News Brief. Just in time for those Vista price cuts, Microsoft is courting Ultimate users with more goodies. Are they good enough? |
Early last evening, I received an e-mail from Microsoft's PR agency about a new Windows Vista Ultimate Web site—Ultimate PC, in beta.
Besides all the Ultimate Extras that Microsoft promises but never really delivers, there are now Ultimate Exclusives—extra extras that are only available to Vista Ultimate users at Ultimate PC (that's five uses of Ultimate, including this one, in one sentence, which should freak out eWEEK copy editors). Unlike Ultimate Extras, Ultimate Exclusives are gonna cost ya.
As a marketing gimmick, Ultimate PC and its Ultimate Exclusives make sense. Microsoft needs to do something for Ultimate. But based on the beta site, marketing is the only really tangible objective I see. The Exclusives aren't all that great.
Stardock Multiplicity Pro is available to Ultimate users for $29.95, which supposedly is a $20 discount. To obtain Exclusives like Multiplicity, Vista users must validate their operating system as Ultimate. But the software sells in the channel for as low as $37, no expensive Ultimate version required.
Another Ultimate Exclusive, the Pinnacle PCTV HD Ultimate Stick lists for $89.95, a $40 discount. That's a good deal, with respect to pricing. But in my testing on two Vista Ultimate notebooks with 256MB and 512MB of discrete graphics, respectively, Ultimate Stick TV watching disappointed. The problems were consistent using AT&T U-Verse IPTV and Cox Cable. By comparison, Hauppauge WinTV-PVR-USB2 really performed, because of hardware MPEG decoding; the device doesn't rely solely on the computer. Pinnacle Studio Ultimate 11, at $89.95, is a much better product for the $40 discount.
The EVGA e-GeForce 8800 bundles are good bargains: three graphic card offers, two with game Crysis. Best bundle is with the GTS card for $249.99 (list price is $359.99).
Still, I wouldn't call deals from three vendors exactly exciting Exclusives. The selection is as lean as the free Ultimate Extras. The Extras won't go away, by the way. Microsoft still plans to deliver more, not that Ultimate users have gotten much Extras for the extra money paid for the high-end Vista.
The Ultimate PC Web site looks good, and it's an otherwise impressive marketing attempt. But it's lean, for now. There aren't many Vista Ultimate computers showcased because there aren't many to showcase. Most PC manufacturers ship Vista Premium on most SKUs. Some OEMs offer no Ultimate SKUs.
I want to be excited, but Ultimate users deserve better for the cost paid compared with other Vista versions. Vista Ultimate users have had enough promises.
Related Posts:
- SP1's Ultimate Challenge, Microsoft Watch, March 4, 2008
- Microsoft Pulls Troubled Vista Update, Microsoft Watch, Feb. 19, 2008
- Pre-SP1 Updates Whack Windows Vista, Microsoft Watch, Feb. 15, 2008
- Vista SP1 Goes MSDN, Microsoft Watch, Feb. 13, 2008
- The Vista RTM Question, Microsoft Watch, Feb. 7, 2008
- What's Good About Vista SP1?, Microsoft Watch, Feb. 4, 2008
- Microsoft Sort of Releases Vista SP1, Microsoft Watch, Feb. 4, 2008
- What Went Wrong with Windows Vista, Microsoft Watch, Dec. 6, 2007
- Broken Windows, Microsoft Watch, Aug. 9, 2007
- It's Not Ultimate Enough, Microsoft Watch, July 2, 2007
- Vista's Discount No More, Microsoft Watch, June 28, 2007
- The Vista Contradiction, Microsoft Watch, June 4, 2007
- How Does Windows Vista Rate?, Microsoft Watch, May 20, 2007
- The Trouble with Windows Vista Capable, Microsoft Watch, April 4, 2007
- How Ultimate Is This?, Microsoft Watch, Feb. 26, 2007
- Microsoft's Ultimate Disadvantage, Microsoft Watch, Jan. 28, 2007
- Windows Vista Family Discount Is No Ultimate Bargain, Microsoft Watch, Jan. 18, 2007
- Windows Ultimate Advantage, Microsoft Watch, Jan. 7, 2007
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Comments (5)
Microsoft was going to make additional themes available for Windows XP via the web (there's even a More Themes Online...) option in Control Panel.
Six years later, and there's been the slightly different Energy Blue theme for Tablet users and a very late Zune theme but nothing else. Both of these were just late-run marketing efforts. No delivery to the core market.
Posted by Mike | March 5, 2008 2:42 AM
LMAO!!! Way to go Microsoft! Way to make the suckers who pay for Ultimate feel loved. I have to say, I've been amused by the Vista Ultimate debacle for quite some time. I can't believe it's been all this time and the trivial language packs haven't even been fully released. They will make a nice addition to the poker game, unfinished (or is it finished?) Dreamscene and bitlocker (ever heard of Truecrypt anyone? It's free encryption.) This is icing on the cake though, a site that gives you trivial discounts based on you having paid extra money for nothing but the name Vista Ultimate.
Here's a thought. Don't pay for Ultimate (instead getting Home Premium or heck even Linux) and then buy whatever you wanted (like the graphics card) and you'll have more money in your pocket at the end of the day. If your looking for deals, my favourite site is NCIX.com which currently offers a decent eVGA 8800 GT for 229 (after 30$ rebate). And guess what, they don't validate your operating system.
Oh and the site is poorly designed in my opinion, too much flash. Thanks for making me laugh Joe.
Posted by X | March 5, 2008 8:53 AM
This is great. The UltimatePC site also doesn't use SilverLight, but Adobe Flash. Is this an indicator that Silverlight isn't ready for prime time? Not really a great choice for MSFT, given that Mix08 is going on the same week they launched the UltimatePC site.
Posted by Scott | March 5, 2008 8:59 AM
X,
there's an add on for XP that'll replicate the functionality of Dreamscene (if you want to bog down your pc with video wallpaper).
Can MSFT explain to Al exactly what benefits come from dropping upper-range video card money on a buggy, insecure, bloated OS like Fista?
Posted by Al | March 5, 2008 9:34 AM
Way to go, MS. Take your best customers, charge them an ultimatte surcharge so they can get discounts to buy other stuff. Make them look and feel like fools.
Posted by George | March 5, 2008 1:34 PM