April Fools: Leaked new Ultimate Extras sound scheme

Windows Vista Ultimate Extras sound schemeBy now most of you have probably read about the next wave of Ultimate Extras rumored to be arriving somewhere between now and the distant future. First uncovered by Steven Bink on the recently launched UltimatePC.com website and later removed, was a list of new content for Vista Ultimate extras which has since been confirmed by many official sources at Microsoft. They include “an original game, enhancements to Movie Maker and DVD Maker, additional Windows DreamScenes, screen savers and sound schemes”.

Today, some of those sound schemes were leaked to me by an anonymous and disgruntled Microsoft employee who did this out of frustration at the lack of transparency in the Ultimate Extras program.

In the email he writes, “what’s interesting is that not only did Microsoft bring back Robert Fripp who contributed to the original Vista sound design to work on these new sounds, but also the talent of Ben Burtt who is a notable sound editor and designer famous for his work in the Star Wars movies – most memorably R2D2’s voice and the lightsaber sound effects.” By sampling a few of the sounds, Ben’s contribution can be quite easily identified and adds a very unique touch on each.

Without further ado, you can download the ZIP (674kb) of the sound files here. The files are named in the same format as the original Vista sound files (%systemroot%\Media\) so you can copy and paste them directly over your existing files if you’re happy with them. Having said that I encourage you to keep copies of the original sounds should you ever get sick of these.

It should be noted that this download is not the complete sound scheme package you will receive via Ultimate Extras – many of the sounds have not been finalized, but this gives you a pretty good idea of what to expect in the coming months (*crosses fingers*). I’m personally a big fan of the new UAC sound.

53 insightful thoughts

  1. Am I detecting and April fools lol!!! You had me going for a few minutes there!

  2. Very funny…Long, very funny. I just wasted…what was that, 674KB of my bandwith? You know, there are kids in developing countries who would want that bandwith… πŸ˜‰

  3. Bah, you totally had me going! Even while I was listening to some of the sounds!! πŸ˜›

  4. ah ah Long so funny !!! only when copying I was thinking “oh .. yes.. 1st of april !”

    happily I have not accept to erase files πŸ˜€

  5. well anyone to think that this was real is/was giving microsoft WAYYYYYY too much credit.

  6. This isn’t funny. Ultimate Extras are no laughing matter.

    Sadly, today I’m going to not just be facing more of these, I’m looking to find them.
    This is the first thing I’ve found today (technicly… I saw the YouTube thing yesterday).

    Nice sounds though. Reminds me of the Sound comparison of XP and Vista that drew me to this blog.

  7. It was at Windows Notify when I realised this was a joke πŸ˜†
    Damn those sucked πŸ˜›

  8. I just realized that it was April 1st!

    Hey, at least you didn’t just give us blank sound files :p

  9. I just realized that it was April 1st!

    Hey, at least you didn’t just give us blank sound files :p

    And part of that article was true also (the part about Bink and UltimatePC), so it wasn’t a complete joke πŸ˜‰

  10. These files come from Windows 98 Plus!, don’t you believe? Look at the copyright metadata: Copyright 1995-1998 Microsoft Corporation

  11. You know the sad thing about Long releasing this soundpack update under the Ultimate Extras heading… he’s probably just inadverently pushed back any sort of update MicroSuck might have had penciled in the calender( for 2008, nah 2009) as a time to muster together some sort of weak Ult. Extras update for the public.

  12. Oh the nostalgia…
    Did they use the same sounds for the “Windows”(95/98) and “More Windows” schemes? Now I feel ripped off πŸ™

  13. Wow direct impact, that was really creative, MicroSuck. Why not use Linux if you hate MS so much? Further more, why do you even care if you hate MS?

  14. Cullen, I’m not so sure directimpact hates Microsoft *too* much – I mean look at the name he’s given them – basically saying they suck, but they only suck a very little bit.

  15. Ha Ha!!! Excellent! Since it’s now the 2nd my guard was down and you really had me going. As I was reading that I was thinking at the same time, oh jeeze, sounds like Plus! all over again, lol. Upon listening to Windows Startup the gears started to finally turn haha.
    I am, however, using Startup as my Shutdown sound now; brings back some good memories. So… thanks! -For both the great prank and the .wavs I didn’t have to look for but always wanted! πŸ™‚

  16. Cullen D -don’t be such an idiot.. I don’t hate MS.. I just think they should be doing better…fools like you!, telling people to go elsewhere is part of the very reason why people just give up on MS products. Dig your head out of the sand and take a look around, stop trying to be fanboy because they don’t help anyone.

  17. haha classic
    really good joke
    i was actually hoping for something as exciting to come up as an ultimate extra

  18. hi long zheng, i am using vista home premium currently, if i would to upgrade to vista business, will i lose the entertainment features in home premium..? thx in advance!

  19. Rose, there is no upgrade path from Home Premium to Business. However, you can upgrade to Ultimate which will give you the features of both SKUs.

  20. DARN IT I actually believed you until I read the comments.

    Oh well, I like the UAC sound too, they’ll stay! >;(

  21. I actually believed you until I finished listening to the “Windows User Account Control.wav” one… they don’t follow the theme of vista.. LOL… good job anyways πŸ˜‰

  22. I was fooled. And I am embarrased. At the beggining I thought it was real….. until I heard 1…2….3 in the UAC sound files. πŸ˜‰

  23. In remembrance of this wonderful joke, I am actually going to use these for the rest of the month.
    Thanks for being such a kidder.

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