OK, so if what Paul Thurrott is reporting about Ultimate Extras in Windows 7 is true people should be up in arms, and any Microsoft lovers out there should really be ashamed of their favorite company's marketing.
So it appears (again, this is only rumor at this point as a) nothing is final b) Windows 7 isn't out yet and c) I just read this on the Internet), that not only will there be no Ultimate extras in Windows 7 Ultimate edition, but the UEs you do have installed if you have Vista Ultimate (more on this in a second) are removed during install.
Lets be straight... Vista Ultimate Extras are something that MS should be ashamed of. Vista Ultimate edition's golden feature was supposed to be all this cool extra content you get randomly made available in the form of these "Extras" (I've bitched about this before). The extras that were made available were a joke. Animated backgrounds, a couple of sound themes, and a poker game were about the extent that were delivered. Remember that people are paying top-f-ing-dollar for Ultimate edition. $399 rings a bell for the cost of this, but I'd have to look it up to be sure. Animated backgrounds and a poker game. And now these are silently removed (supposedly) when you "upgrade" to Windows 7 Ultimate.
Now I'm actually excited about Windows 7. I have it installed via bootcamp and it looks like a fairly clean, good upgrade to Vista, really more of a Vista++ than a whole new OS, but regardless I applaud Microsoft for Windows 7, I really do. They'd get a lot of cred if they sucked it up, gave Vista UE owners a high discount (hell, make it a free upgrade to Windows 7 Ultimate) and publicly say they screwed up and over-promised what would be coming from Vista Ultimate.
Let me also disclose that I was one of those people who got Vista Ultimate Edition, though I got it through the Microsoft store so it was a fraction of the cost of my guessed pricetag of $399.
Guess we'll see what happens when Windows 7 comes out....