RSSSpring Windows XP 'Fun Packs' Arrive
By Nate Mook | Published April 21, 2003, 5:20 AM
Following up on its winter-themed add-ons for Windows XP released last December, Microsoft on Tuesday issued new XP "Fun Packs" to celebrate the spring season.
The Fun Packs are designed to showcase digital media features in Microsoft's flagship operating system, adding functionality to Windows Media Player 9 and Movie Maker 2. New Power Toys are also available for Windows XP: a video screen saver and automatic desktop wallpaper changer.
"These special spring-themed Fun Packs are loaded with great extras that can help you to be even more creative while enjoying the built-in digital media and communications capabilities available in Windows XP," a Microsoft spokesperson told BetaNews.
Microsoft has added 3-D Alchemy and 3-D Picture visualizations with spring-themed backgrounds to Windows Media Player 9 Series. The Fun Pack also contain a new WMP blogging plug-in. Six new video titles, 3 music tracks, 5 music transitions and 50 sound effects have been added to Movie Maker 2.
For digital photos, the spring Fun Packs feature 15 new greeting card templates and five new title slides for Photo Story, a feature included in Plus! Digital Media Edition.
The new Fun Packs for spring are available for download free of charge from Microsoft's Windows XP Web site. The company has also posted new how-to articles for sprucing up photos and creating video packages.
I use Wallmaster as my wallpaper changer but I decided to try the XP changer - figured it would use less resources since it's from the source. When I checked, it used twice as much memory and it has less options anyway. And Wallmaster is free too. At a glance, none of the other stuff looks any better than freeware that's out there anyway. Nice try but it's useless to me.
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|I am not sure but is this Micrsoft's way to try and compete with Apple's iPhoto, iTunes and iMovie?
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|Usually I have been impresed with the little tools MS releases. The Wallpaper changer has crashed, the visualizations in Media Player don not show up, even with a ATI Radeon 9000 Pro. I suppose the new Spring tools are "cute", and the most useful part are the add ons for Movie Maker. Skip the rest and go to just the downloads you really need.
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|So if the Wallpaper PT is 182KB, and the Video SS is 410KB, how can both be 1.62MB??? I guess the whole really is greater than the sum of its parts...
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|I wish i could say i was impressed, but i can't. Nothing in the download was really that great, lets put it this way nothing that i don't already have. Come on Microsoft impress me with something really useful!!!
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|If you do any type of sound design work, the sound bites are a nice addition to your sound library. Too bad the free stuff doesn't suit you. I found some of it quite useful.
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|That's it, several WindowManagers have an "automatic desktop wallpaper changer" now, so lets implement it in Windows XP.
(HEHE)
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|there is a desktop slideshow powertoy...
or was that one of the "unreleased" powertoys?
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|I don't recall. I was only playing (hence the "HEHE") since I had recently released a new version of my Wallpaper changer. ;-)
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|What a moron, there has been a powertoy addon for Windows for almost 5 years now that has done this... Geesh...
Yeah Microsoft is just copying the Window Managers.... Geesh
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|You sir are the moron, it was just a joke.
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|The children at Microsoft have a tendency to stomp their feet and whine a bit if news of a release is posted at a site other than theirs. They will probably delay this "special" release for a day or two to show their ultimate supremacy. Remember the released, withdrawn, maybe or maybe not released PowerToys deal? It really would be nice if MS would one day start hiring adults.
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|i can't seem to find it...
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|They will be available for download on Tuesday.
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|thry this for a glimpse
http://www.microsoft.com...s/downloads/holiday.asp
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|I'm not so sure about the rest, but the only one I'm really looking forward to is the video screensaver...
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|The video screensaver is nothing new though; you can already do this with the Bliss screen saver. Just replace it's movie with one of your own.
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|Hi,
Should be out later today... Check the WM press area for more details later!
http://www.microsoft.com...windowsmedia/press.aspx
Regards
Marc Liron
http://www.updatexp.com
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