Filed under: OS Updates, Microsoft
DreamScene animated desktop for Windows Vista Ultimate launches
One of the things that separates Windows Vista Ultimate from the versions of Vista with names like "Home Premium" and Business are "Ultimate Extras," like DreamScene, because you know, everyone needs an animated desktop on their PC.
But if visual candy is your thing, after spending most of the year in public beta, DreamScene was officially pushed out the door today. Microsoft has also partnered with Stardock to release a series of new DreamScene desktops. You can also convert your own videos into desktops.
There's no real word on any differences between the full version of DreamScene and the public beta. Let us know if you've installed both versions and notice any changes.
I don't know if this is a labor of love or merely the brainchild of four very gifted games designers, but Level Up is a really weird mash-up of gaming elements that you have probably never seen in a Flash game before.
Let's start with the premise itself: Groundhog Day meets Memento. The game experience revolves around 'days': you explore the world and the clock slowly ticks towards the evening. You bounce around picking up gems and talking to the denizens of 'Level Upland'. Eventually you feel tired and head back to ...
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Brandon said 8:30AM on 9-26-2007
I have been using Dreamscene (on Home Premium shhhhh dont tell anyone) for a couple of months now. For the most part its pretty cool from an eyecandy perspective. Its only as good as the videos and animations you use.
The only issue I have personally is that because microsoft has partnered with stardock, I cant use the stardock video backgrounds because they are a special .dream format that you need Stardock Deskscapes to run. And to top it off DeskScapes is designed to only allow itself to be installed on vista ultimate machines. I simply patched home premium to enable dreamscene, and I dont see much of a point of upgrading for this.
I like it, and apart from not having access to the stardock catalog of video backgrounds, it adds a slick wow factor to people using your PC. As long as its not a video of something cheezy.
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Z said 8:30AM on 9-26-2007
Here's an alternative using VLC:
http://www.winmatrix.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=12694
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kojo87 said 8:31AM on 9-26-2007
i've been using Stardock Deskscapes for a little while and its pretty cool. but kinda dumb. i really dont care enough to suck up that much of my system resources. maybe i'll give it another crack now that i have 3GB of RAM. but back when i had 1GB it really kinda sucked.
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Jared C. said 8:31AM on 9-26-2007
They disabled multi-monitor support. The error message now reads "Windows DreamScene can't run as your desktop is now configured." with a subtext of "Windows DreamScene cannot run because the computer is currently using more than one video adapter." It sounds like this will only effect people running multiple graphics cards and multiple monitors, but the preview allowed this to run just fine. I wonder if there is a work-around or roll-back.
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Mahfood said 8:32AM on 9-26-2007
After I downloaded the new version I found most of the videos didn't work anymore. The beta worked perfect for me, now the release version "Plays" it shows like snow on a bad TV connection, and the few videos that do play the quality looks bad. This happens with both personal videos and the videos that came with dreamscene. I am not a big fan of the program but it being one of the only "Extras" for Ultimate, it bad that it doesn't work. Anyone else having this problem?
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CoffeeDaze said 8:34AM on 9-26-2007
I updated Dreamscene on my machine and when I tried to run it I got the first BSOD I have gotten with Vista so far.
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westudi said 8:36AM on 9-26-2007
Hmm, I seem to be the only one to report positively. This version of Dreamscenes has been far more stable for me than the previous one.
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Chuckie said 8:34AM on 9-26-2007
I've been using DreamScenese since January or February, and it has stopped responding and crashed my PC (AMD X2 4800, 2GB RAM) something like 50 times. Its neat to show people, but seriously, if i'm using the PC, i've got windows covering it up. if i'm not, i've got bubbles running over the screan, and dreamscene stops when the screensaver kicks in....so i'm still struggling to see the point of it all.
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Chuckie said 8:34AM on 9-26-2007
I've been using DreamScenese since January or February, and it has stopped responding and crashed my PC (AMD X2 4800, 2GB RAM) something like 50 times. Its neat to show people, but seriously, if i'm using the PC, i've got windows covering it up. if i'm not, i've got bubbles running over the screan, and dreamscene stops when the screensaver kicks in....so i'm still struggling to see the point of it all.
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Tony said 8:34AM on 9-26-2007
Everyone should just run Ubuntu Fiesty with Compiz Fusion. Never heard of it? Imagine having eye candy with the ability to increase productivity and make jaws drop without ruining your computers life.. Too good to be true? Nope, and can i just tell you that its free? Not that it matters that Vista isn't. :)
Don't believe me? Watch it on You Tube:
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=compiz+fusion&search=Search
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sierra_papa said 11:09AM on 9-26-2007
Tony: there's no need to install heavyweight compiz fusion. Animated wallpapers are available in e17 out of the box.
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westudi said 3:54AM on 9-26-2007
Or you know, instead of using Ubuntu I could actually have access to programs without having to dual boot.
I like the idea of Ubuntu, and was all ready to switch until I couldn't get a few vital programs to work. Vista hasn't failed me yet in that regard.
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Eric said 8:37AM on 9-26-2007
I'm so angry that this is limited to Ultimate users only. This should be on the other versions of Vista.
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Tush said 10:46AM on 9-26-2007
Eric, I'm sure there's a way...
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josh said 11:45PM on 9-27-2007
My brother put it on his computer and it's actually pretty cool. No problems so far.
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Ypoknons said 11:31AM on 9-26-2007
I would second the far more stable comment. Less crashing after switching to games too.
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LisKiller said 3:37PM on 9-26-2007
More Dreamscene HD Videos:
http://www.winmatrix.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=12200
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