Windows Vista’s Gamma Table Bug

Windows Vista has a new color-management/profiling format called Windows Color Systems. It purports to offer advanced color management and better results than the age-old (and forever dying) ICC/ICM color system. ICC has been buggy the whole way, with both political and technical issues plaguing its colorful history.

Windows Color Systems is a step in the right direction, but it comes at a very heavy price: Windows Vista no longer properly interfaces with ICC/ICM color profiles!

Anyone using the ATi Catalyst Control Center, BasicColor, ColorEye, Spyder, or any of dozen other color-management and gamma-correction programs available will have noticed the bug we’re talking about: once you lock your PC (winkey+L) the gamma LUT on your graphics card is reset.

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Microsoft Responds to Ultimate Extras Accusations

This past week, accusations/complaints have been flying around the net about Microsoft’s “Ultimate Extras” (or, more accurately, the lack-thereof), an added-value package that was promised to ship for Windows Vista Ultimate Edition without much detail as to just what it is that it would contain.

The response by the community can be easily described: No one is happy with Ultimate Extras – but a lot of people are happy with the advantages Ultimate Edition provides over the other SKUs. In short, it’s a matter of how you define “Ultimate Extras.” Are they extra utilities/features for Windows Vista Ultimate Edition or are they the stuff that Windows Vista Ultimate Edition gets extra?

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