.... and I'm running XP and a whole host of freeware applications (nearly all better than their commercial counterparts) on a PIII 1.2ghz faster than I've seen it on any of the several hundred PCs I help look after at work - all of them P4s, and some brand new Core2 Duo nonsense.

The rub is that commercial software companies and hardware manufacturers collude to "encourage" people to constantly buy new hardware and software, by producing software that runs slowly on all but the latest hardware... and even then not as fast as my 7 year old PC.

Unless you're a hardcore gamer, or someone else using extremely CPU-intensive apps it hasn't been necessary to buy new hardware for many many years... you're all being conned people.

I am just running an xvid fullscreen video in background on Win XP with a 650 mhz and 256 MB Ram using VLC, without any stuttering. Try that with Vista ;-)

You can play screen savers on your desktop with Vital Desktop (free and open source). There are a number of free screen savers that play videos. Put two together and you have video on your desktop. Nothing quite like having HD video playing in the background. I prefer one of the www.reallyslick.com screensavers though.

vital-desktop.sourceforge.net

"VLC player has a similar option to show a video as wallpaper for almost all video formats."

Yes, but what does that matter when you can do exactly the same thing, badge it as Microsoft, and sell it to the mindless consuming public?

Give them their due, no-one is better than Microsoft at finding old technology that is available for free, cutting it down to the bare bones so your locked in to only using features and formats that fit the MS business model, adding a few pretty effects for fashion victims, flogging it to idiots and then laughing all the way to the bank.... genius!

I suppose this may excite some people, but not me. I tried it and found the moving imagery annoying and distracting while trying to write code, etc. Then again, I should have tried a porn video as my background. Maybe that would have changed my opinion.

Only for vista ultimate users.... :(

From their website:
"Windows DreamScene supports only .mpeg and .wmv video file formats."

VLC player has a similar option to show a video as wallpaper for almost all video formats.

video backgrounds are old i had one back on win95 made computer run to real slow but it was only dx4 100 mhz cpu

I remember something simular to this when alien vs preditor was first coming to theaters it was sweet but kind of anoying after a while.

I dont really see the point bloating my desktop with a video looping in the background...

So i can spend 50$ on stardocks software for my windows xp which is susceptible to viruses and spyware ... OR I can buy Windows Vista Ultimate with encryption, the desktop, enhanced performance, and the fact the xp viruses / spyware cannot work on Vista ... for only 200$ OEM :D ... hmm yea imma go Vista k-thanks :D

Let me see if I get your post correctly.
A. Vista is immune to viruses (and malware) but Stardocks' DestktopX/Windowblinds (an on-top application) isn't.
B. Vista has "enhanced performance" (compared to... what exactly?) - unlike Windowblind (which modifies the existing XP WM).
Just to be sure - are we talking about the same DRM infested Vista that eats ~800MB while idle (re: running the WM) that I'm using? (@work - have to; using it to test my software)

Somehow, the words "clueless" and "You have no idea what you're talking about" lose all meaning when I try find an appropriate response to your post.

Unless that is, you were just trying to be sarcastic...

- Gilboa

No, read the post:

A: XP isn't.

B: GUI is run natively by DX10.

(which modifies the existing XP WM).
Just to be sure - are we talking about the same DRM infested Vista that eats ~800MB while idle

Yes, because we'd all rather the RAM sit unused and pointless. Any decently modern OS will use as much system RAM as possible to speed it up. So long as it can free a good portion of that up when running programs/games that require it, why let it go to waste?

better than the old xp that used 1-2 gigs of pagefile AND 300mb or ram idle. hmm which works faster, ram or hard-drive stored pagefile?

well arent you a genius.

and i dont know what system you are running, but vista is only using 500-600mb on my machines.

Yeah, sure, if you run no programs at all. Try playing a game and you will see a lot of page swapping, you will need at least a 2GB configuration to use Vista safely.
If you want performance and better memory management than XP then you must get Windows2003. Vista is better at memory management because it uses a modified/updated Win2003 kernel, the inferior XP kernel is developed no more. However Vista has so many stupid processes running in the background spying the user and controlling everything that it makes the OS a shame. It's a waste of time to install and use Vista now. Until Vista SP1 gets released the OS is still in early beta stages, it's far from a final product. Vist SP2 better comes out in less than 24 months from now or no one will switch to Vista until is obliged to--and currently it's far from the case since developers are just starting coding initial beta-drivers marked as final with the infamous WHQL MS logo/payment included.

Um, yeah ... you can download this from Stardock -- you don't need Vista Ultimate.

So you pay the extra $$ for Vista Ultimate for the privilege of getting an exclusive add-on that anyone with internet access can download freely and legally? Brilliant.

free? URL?

anyone add it is pretty buggy and wastes memory?

Yeah, I think they covered that int he summary:

Microsoft reminds users that DreamScene is still a Technical Preview and unsupported until the final release.

Imagine the pr0n possibilities!

new feature... flash desktops have been able to do this for a long time...... way to go bill...

Where did it say this was new? It certainly is as an add-on for Vista.

Chill, man.

There were as*holes before you were born, way to go wolfcat's mom.

Works pretty well too, 0% CPU usage or performance hit on my Vista Ultimate Laptop..

Thanks for the CPU usage data, I am all for running it if it doesn't burn cycles.

Stardock? Cool. Those folks usually know what they're doing. Odd to see MS partner with them since 90% of their products exist solely to make windows look and act in ways MS never intended.

They've worked together for a long time.

That's ironic, as my DreamScene is a desktop withOUT Vista.

Hilarious...

Installed it on my 2.0 Centrino Dual Core Laptop with Vista Ultimate and my processor/ram - o meter was constantly at 30% ram and CPU running 30 to 40 %. Turned it off and they all dropped to less then 5 %.

and does your laptop have an integrated video card that uses shared memory by chance? as that would be your problem, other than the performance loss of centrino cpu's when on battery and under stress.