The DREAM begins!

Dream.WinCustomize.Com

Tuesday, February 13, 2007 by Frogboy | Discussion: WinCustomize News

Our Story So Far...

Last year Microsoft contracted Stardock (and Stardock Design) to work with them on an animated wallpaper feature for Windows Vista Ultimate.  The feature went on to be called Windows DreamScene which plays video content as animated wallpaper.

Our design team created the default computer generated wallpapers that come with Windows DreamScene.  Our development team created a program called Stardock DeskScapes which extends Windows DreamScene to support the new .DREAM format which supports dynamic content (instead of video, generated dynamically) as well as support for triggers and author credit.

WinCustomize.com worked with the Windows Ultimate team to create a community for the uploading and sharing of animated wallpapers in the .DREAM format.

Today, Microsoft made Windows DreamScene Preview available as an Ultimate Extra (you can get it from Windows Update if you have Windows Vista Ultimate).  And Stardock has made Stardock DeskScapes available today too as well as a tool to create .DREAM files.

So to summarize, Dream.WinCustomize.com is up which has some new animated wallpapers available. You will need to download DeskScapes (which is free and requires Windows DreamScene to be installed) to use the animated wallpapers.

 Dream.WinCustomize.Com

 Guided Tour of Stardock DeskScapes

 

DaRkFuSsIoOn
Reply #1 Wednesday, February 14, 2007 1:33 AM
That sounds very cool, but i have xp pro  
kin242
Reply #2 Wednesday, February 14, 2007 4:40 AM
shame so few people will be getting ultimate. this should have been part of standard vista!
markdotnet
Reply #3 Wednesday, February 14, 2007 8:26 AM
Honestly, this was the "killer feature" which prompted me to get Ultimate instead of Home Premium. As soon as I saw the demo, I had to have it.
MadDeez
Reply #4 Wednesday, February 14, 2007 8:53 AM
i agree with mr markdotnet. the ONLY reason i bought ultimate is this app. now, as soon as wb supports vista 64, i'll be set for the next few years.   
Winmodify
Reply #5 Wednesday, February 14, 2007 1:28 PM
I happen to be one of the lucky ones to have Windows Vista Ultimate, unfortunally Windows Dreamscene is not in my Ultimate extra's list when I search for updates
Such a shame when you spend hundreds of dollars...

I do have a dutch version though, but I can't imagine dreamscene currently only beiing available in english...
Kennytheman
Reply #6 Wednesday, February 14, 2007 1:32 PM
Ik heb ook nederlands hoor,   . Heb hem via windows update binne gehaald.
CerebroJD
Reply #7 Wednesday, February 14, 2007 1:47 PM
Does this work with RC2, or only the full release of Vista?
egandt
Reply #8 Wednesday, February 14, 2007 2:15 PM
Why would anyone want a background that uses CPU cycles?, Like a screen saver a background is suppose to use 0% CPU. It does have a nifty factor (which is why I use WindowBlinds and IconPackager, but neither of them use an real CPU, when idle. As one who pays for Electric and owns Vista Ultimate (for application compatibility testing only), this extension just made no sense.
Xan
Reply #9 Wednesday, February 14, 2007 2:58 PM
Why would anyone want a background that uses CPU cycles?, Like a screen saver a background is suppose to use 0% CPU. It does have a nifty factor (which is why I use WindowBlinds and IconPackager, but neither of them use an real CPU, when idle. As one who pays for Electric and owns Vista Ultimate (for application compatibility testing only), this extension just made no sense.


Well then don't use it.

I don't happen to spaz out if something on my computer is using 5% of my CPU. My ability to surf the net, check email, write documents, etc. is not in the least affected by a water flowing background or something. and the thing seems to turn off entirely if I run a game so no impact there either.

Does your computer charge you for CPU used or something? I'm just trying to understand the mentality that demands 0% CPU use for it to be interesting. I've seen people put up CPU gadgets which in themselves use 5% CPU just monitoring CPU.
magus
Reply #10 Wednesday, February 14, 2007 3:47 PM
It's too bad that Vista Enterprise doesn't qualify for DreamScene, or any of the Vista Ultimate Extras for that matter, means I won't be able to play with it. Unless MS changes it's mind.
AiTakahashi
Reply #11 Wednesday, February 14, 2007 3:57 PM
It's too bad that Vista Enterprise doesn't qualify for DreamScene, or any of the Vista Ultimate Extras for that matter, means I won't be able to play with it. Unless MS changes it's mind.


Agreed... Sitting here with 10 Enterprise licenses for the office network, and no chance of using these groovy walls is a B.U.M.M.E.R.

CerebroJD
Reply #12 Wednesday, February 14, 2007 4:01 PM

Why would anyone want a background that uses CPU cycles?, Like a screen saver a background is suppose to use 0% CPU. It does have a nifty factor (which is why I use WindowBlinds and IconPackager, but neither of them use an real CPU, when idle. As one who pays for Electric and owns Vista Ultimate (for application compatibility testing only), this extension just made no sense.


I dont think this has been emphasized enough.  Bold font time.

When equipped with the proper video hardware, the ONLY cpu processing that is required is that needed to decode the video. 


c242
Reply #13 Wednesday, February 14, 2007 4:33 PM
Anyone who does not have the english ultimate : Install the english languagepack, reboot and enjoy the ultimate extras. Using Sylock Red in german Ultimate right now. This is so great !
c242
Reply #14 Thursday, February 15, 2007 1:06 AM
Anyone knows if there is multi-monitor support in the future ?
Frogboy
Reply #15 Thursday, February 15, 2007 1:35 AM
DeskScapes will probably be made available for Vista Enterprise customers and will run .dream files as well. But that's a bit in the future.

AiTakahashi
Reply #16 Thursday, February 15, 2007 3:45 AM
DeskScapes will probably be made available for Vista Enterprise customers and will run .dream files as well. But that's a bit in the future.


Good news... thanks!

Winmodify
Reply #17 Thursday, February 15, 2007 11:24 AM
Ik heb ook nederlands hoor, . Heb hem via windows update binne gehaald.
kan je dan misschien contact met mij opnemen?

Winmodify
Reply #18 Thursday, February 15, 2007 12:22 PM
Nevermind, I installed the english languagepack and now it works looks beautiful!

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