Microsoft Plus! for Windows 95 This was the first version of Plus! and had an initial cost of US$49.99. It included
Space Cadet Pinball, the Internet Jumpstart Kit (which was the introduction of
Internet Explorer 1.0),
DriveSpace 3 and Compression Agent disk compression utilities, the initial release of
theme support along with a set of 12 themes, dial-up networking server, dial-up scripting tool, and the graphical improvements such as anti-aliased screen fonts, full-window drag, the ability to stretch or shrink the wallpaper to fit the screen and
high color icons.
Task Scheduler as it is present in later Windows versions was included as System Agent. A utility to notify the user of low disk space (DiskAlm.exe) also ran as part of System Agent. Plus! for
Windows 95 was initially marketed for adding features for "high-performance computers", the minimum system requirements were an
80386 CPU with 8
megabytes of
RAM. Later releases of Windows 95 (OSR2 and onwards) included DriveSpace 3 and
Internet Explorer 3.0. Windows 98 included all of the enhancements included in Plus! for Windows 95. Space Cadet Pinball was not installed by default, but included on the Windows 98 CD. Although
Windows NT 4.0 is not intended to support desktop themes, each desktop theme from this pack (except the More Windows theme and the Windows 95 256-color theme) along with the Space theme from the Microsoft Plus! for Kids pack (albeit with a different startup sound) and three additional exclusive desktop themes is installable on this operating system via the Windows NT 4.0 Resource Kit. The screen-saver and wallpaper files include images from the
Codex Leicester, which Microsoft co-founder, then CEO
Bill Gates bought in 1994. Microsoft Plus! for Windows 95 shipped with the following Desktop Themes: • Dangerous Creatures (256 color) • Inside Your Computer (high color) • Leonardo da Vinci (256 color) • Mystery (high color) • Nature (high color) • Science (256 color) • The 60's USA (256 color) • The Golden Era (high color) • Sports (256 color) • Travel (high color) • Windows 95 (256 color) • More Windows (high color) All of them were included in
Windows 98 and
Me, except that in Windows 98, the "Windows 95" and "More Windows" themes were modified to use Windows 98's version of
The Microsoft Sound, as well as to change instances of "Windows 95" to "Windows 98", and in Windows Me, the two themes are combined into a new theme entitled "Windows Millennium", with a unique background.
Microsoft Plus! for Kids This version was released in 1997 and aimed at children of ages 3 to 12. It includes three new applications: Talk It!, a
text-to-speech program that says what users type using various voices; Play It!, an electronic keyboard with music and sound effects; and Paint It!, a version of
Paint oriented for kids. It also contained a "picture picker" along with clipart, fonts, 10 new desktop themes, and Protect It!, a
parental controls program. Plus! for Kids was the only Plus! release from the
Microsoft Home and Entertainment division rather than the Windows Operating System development group. Four desktop themes from this collection - Baseball, Jungle, Space and Underwater – were included in Windows 98 and
Windows Me; the Underwater theme, however, was modified to have its sounds play in different events. There is also a demo version for Microsoft Plus! for Kids; however, it only contains the readme for the program and the Underwater theme. The pack can also be installed on
Windows NT 4.0 if the user is granted administrative privileges, according to the
Readme document included with the pack, although Protect It! and the desktop themes cannot be installed, mainly due to design differences between
Windows 95 and
NT 4.0.
Microsoft Plus! 98 As the sequel to the original suite of enhancements to Windows, Plus! 98 included eighteen new desktop themes (some of which were based on popular comics such as
FoxTrot and
Garfield), along with new programs and tools for
Windows 98. An "organic art" 3D screensaver rendered unique infinite 3D visual shapes. The screensaver .scr/.dll files are stored in %WINDIR%\system on Windows 98/Me, and can be copied over to %WINDIR%\system32 directory on Windows 2000/XP.
Microsoft Plus! Game Pack: Cards & Puzzles This Plus! pack was released at the time of
Windows Millennium Edition; however, it could also be installed on Windows 95-98, NT 4.0 and 2000. It included the
Microsoft Entertainment Pack: The Puzzle Collection - a collection of 10 arcade games and Microsoft Bicycle Card Collection, another set of 12 card games (Hearts, Spades, Cribbage, Pinochle, Crazy 8's, Oh Hell!, Go Fish, Old Maid, Euchre, Gin Rummy, Schafkopf and Skat). A trial version of
Microsoft Pandora's Box was also included.
Microsoft Plus! for Windows XP version of Microsoft Plus! Marketed as "The Ultimate Companion for Windows XP", Microsoft Plus! for
Windows XP was launched alongside the Windows XP operating system on October 25, 2001. This version of Plus! was created to show off the enhanced capabilities that Windows XP presented with its updated
Windows Media Player and
DirectX 3D core technologies. Continuing the feature categories of the previous Plus! products, the product features were desktop themes, screen savers, games, and utilities. Plus! for Windows XP includes: • Plus! Themes (Aquarium, Nature, da Vinci and Space) • Plus! Screen Savers (Aquarium, Nature, da Vinci, Space, Robot Circus, Sand Pendulum, Mercury Pool and Plus! My Pictures Premium screensaver) • Plus! Voice Command for
Windows Media Player • Plus! Personal DJ • Plus! MP3 Converter • Plus! CD Label Maker • Plus! Speaker Enhancement • Plus! 3D Visualizations for Windows Media Player (
Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee, Maxx's Kingdom and Plus! Undersea Wonders) • Plus! Skins for Windows Media Player (Aquarium, Nature, da Vinci and Space) •
Plus! Hyperbowl • Plus! Russian Square • Plus! Labyrinth
Microsoft Plus! Digital Media Edition Marketed as "The Ultimate Photo, Music, and Movie Enhancement Pack for Windows XP", Microsoft launched Plus! Digital Media Edition along with
Windows XP Media Center Edition. Plus! Digital Media Edition signified the first time Microsoft had released a second Plus! product based on the same base operating system. Microsoft Plus! Digital Media Edition was also the first Microsoft product to be made available for sale to consumers via e-commerce as full product download through online retailers. Released on January 7, 2003, Plus! Digital Media Edition built upon two newly enhanced Windows XP core components: Windows Media Player and
Windows Movie Maker 2. This product version focused more on utility features for photos, music and movies rather than including the more traditional Plus! features like themes, screen savers, and games. Plus! Digital Media Edition includes: • Plus!
Photo Story 2 • Plus! Party Mode • Plus! Analog Recorder • Plus! CD Label Maker • Plus! Dancer • Plus! Audio Converter • Plus! Effects and Transitions for
Windows Movie Maker 2 • Plus! Alarm Clock • Plus! Sleep Timer • Plus! Skins for Windows Media Player 9 Series (Bionic Dot, Hard Boiled, HueShifter, Mecha, Professional, Pulsar and Slimline) • Plus! Sync & Go for Pocket PC Microsoft Plus! Digital Media Edition is the only version of Microsoft Plus! to require activation.
Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 includes some of the themes and screensavers from Microsoft Plus! for Windows XP, as it retains the Aquarium, Da Vinci, Nature and Space themes. It also includes some applications from Microsoft Plus! Digital Media Edition, namely, Audio Converter, CD Label Maker, Dancer and Party Mode and the My Pictures Premium screensaver. A Windows Media Player skin called Darkling, developed by The Skins Factory is included, the skin is exclusive to Microsoft Plus! Digital Media Edition.
Microsoft Plus! SuperPack for Windows XP On October 19, 2004, Microsoft replaced its two separate Plus! products for Windows XP with a single combined version called the Microsoft Plus! SuperPack for Windows XP. There were no new features or functionality added nor are the two separate products integrated. On Windows XP Media Center Edition the Pack was not needed as it had included the Plus Pack features. The Plus! series has been discontinued, as some of its features have been integrated into
Windows Vista and later Windows versions. ==See also==