Microsoft Plus! - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Microsoft Plus! was a commercial operating system

Operating system

An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...

enhancement product by Microsoft

Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...

. The last edition is the Plus! SuperPack, which includes an assortment of screensavers, themes, and games, as well as multimedia applications. The Microsoft Plus! product was first announced on 31 January 1994 under the internal codename Frosting.

The enhancements that make up Microsoft Plus! are typically developed by Microsoft itself. The Plus! packs also include games and content from third-party companies, for example, in Plus! for Windows XP, the HyperBowl

Hyperbowl Plus! Edition

Hyperbowl Plus! Edition is a 3-D bowling-style game made in 2001 by HyperEntertainment. It was created by Microsoft, and can only be accessed by use of a Microsoft Plus! CD-ROM.-Gameplay:...

game developed by Hyper Entertainment Inc. was included. Plus! features that actually enhance the base operating system or provide utility are generally included for free in the next release of Windows.

Microsoft Plus! was discontinued in favor of Windows Ultimate Extras

Windows Ultimate Extras

Windows Ultimate Extras are optional features offered to users of Windows Vista Ultimate Edition. They are accessible with Windows Update. Ultimate Extras replace the market role of Microsoft Plus!, a product sold for prior consumer releases of Microsoft Windows...

in Windows Vista

Windows Vista

Windows Vista is an operating system released in several variations developed by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops, tablet PCs, and media center PCs...

Microsoft Plus! for Windows 95

This was the first version of Plus! and included Space Cadet Pinball

Full Tilt! Pinball

Full Tilt! Pinball is a pinball video game developed by Cinematronics and published by Maxis in 1995. It featured pre-rendered 3D graphics and three "tables", which were essentially different games. The tables were called Space Cadet, Skulduggery, and Dragon's Keep...

, the Internet Jumpstart Kit (which was the introduction of Internet Explorer 1.0), DriveSpace

DoubleSpace

DriveSpace is a disk compression utility supplied with MS-DOS starting from version 6.0. The purpose of DriveSpace is to increase the amount of data the user could store on disks, by transparently compressing and decompressing data on-the-fly. It is primarily intended for use with hard drives, but...

3 and Compression Agent disk compression utilities, the initial release of theme

Theme (computing)

In computing, a theme is a preset package containing graphical appearance details, used to customize the look and feel of an operating system, widget set or window manager....

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 highcolor icons. Task Scheduler
Task Scheduler
Task Scheduler is a component of Microsoft Windows that provides the ability to schedule the launch of programs or scripts at pre-defined times or after specified time intervals. It was first introduced in the Windows 95 Plus! pack as System Agent but was renamed to Task Scheduler in Windows 98...

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

Windows 95

Windows 95 is a consumer-oriented graphical user interface-based operating system. It was released on August 24, 1995 by Microsoft, and was a significant progression from the company's previous Windows products...

was initially marketed for adding features for high-performance computers so Windows 95 could meet the minimum system requirement of an 80386

Intel 80386

The Intel 80386, also known as the i386, or just 386, was a 32-bit microprocessor introduced by Intel in 1985. The first versions had 275,000 transistors and were used as the central processing unit of many workstations and high-end personal computers of the time...

CPU with 4 megabyte

Megabyte

The megabyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information storage or transmission with two different values depending on context: bytes generally for computer memory; and one million bytes generally for computer storage. The IEEE Standards Board has decided that "Mega will mean 1 000...

s 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. The Pinball game, was not installed by default, but included on the Windows 98 CD.

The screen-saver and wallpaper files include images from the Codex Leicester

Codex Leicester

The Codex Leicester is a collection of largely scientific writings by Leonardo da Vinci. The codex is named after Thomas Coke, later created Earl of Leicester, who purchased it in 1717...

, which Microsoft founder Bill Gates

Bill Gates

William Henry "Bill" Gates III is an American business magnate, investor, philanthropist, and author. Gates is the former CEO and current chairman of Microsoft, the software company he founded with Paul Allen...

bought in 1994.

Microsoft Plus! for Kids!

This version was released in 1997 and targeted at children of ages 12 and under. It includes three new applications: Talk It!
Talk It!
Talk It!, also called TalkAny, was a popular text-to-speech software by and was originally included in the Windows 95 version of Microsoft Plus! under the name of "Microsoft Plus! for Kids"...

, a text-to-speech

Speech synthesis

Speech synthesis is the artificial production of human speech. A computer system used for this purpose is called a speech synthesizer, and can be implemented in software or hardware...

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

Microsoft Paint

Paint is a simple graphics painting program that has been included with all versions of Microsoft Windows. It is often referred to as MS Paint or Microsoft Paint...

oriented for kids. It also contained a picture picker along with clipart, fonts, 10 new desktop themes, and Protect It!, which are parental controls for Internet Explorer

Internet Explorer

Windows Internet Explorer is a series of graphical web browsers developed by Microsoft and included as part of the Microsoft Windows line of operating systems, starting in 1995. It was first released as part of the add-on package Plus! for Windows 95 that year...

. Plus! for Kids! was the only Plus! release from the Microsoft Home and Entertainment

Microsoft Product Divisions

Microsoft Product Divisions are the segments of Microsoft that are responsible for the company's products. To be more precise in tracking performance of each unit and delegating responsibility, Microsoft reorganized into seven core business groups — each an independent financial entity — in April...

division rather than the Windows Operating System development group.

There is also a demo version for Microsoft Plus! for Kids!. However it only contains the readme for the program and the Underwater theme.

Microsoft Plus! 98

As the sequel to the original suite of enhancements to Windows, Plus! 98 included the original set of themes along with eighteen new desktop themes (Some were based on popular comics such as FoxTrot and Garfield
Garfield
Garfield is a comic strip created by Jim Davis. Published since June 19, 1978, it chronicles the life of the title character, the cat Garfield ; his owner, Jon Arbuckle; and Arbuckle's dog, Odie...

.), along with new programs and tools for Windows 98

Windows 98

Windows 98 is a graphical operating system by Microsoft. It is the second major release in the Windows 9x line of operating systems. It was released to manufacturing on 15 May 1998 and to retail on 25 June 1998. Windows 98 is the successor to Windows 95. Like its predecessor, it is a hybrid...

. An organic art 3D screensaver rendered unique infinite 3D visual shapes. A Start Menu

Start menu

The Start Menu and Start Button are user interface elements used in the later versions of the Microsoft Windows operating systems and in some X window managers...

cleanup utility was added to Windows 98's Maintenance Wizard. A Cybermedia Non-Critical File Cleaner utility was integrated into Disk Cleanup

Disk Cleanup

Disk Cleanup is a computer maintenance utility included in Microsoft Windows designed to free up disk space on a computer's hard drive. The utility first searches and analyzes the hard drive for files that are no longer of any use, and then removes the unnecessary files...

. ZIP file

ZIP (file format)

Zip is a file format used for data compression and archiving. A zip file contains one or more files that have been compressed, to reduce file size, or stored as is...

integration with Windows Explorer

Windows Explorer

This article is about the Windows file system browser. For the similarly named web browser, see Internet ExplorerWindows Explorer is a file manager application that is included with releases of the Microsoft Windows operating system from Windows 95 onwards. It provides a graphical user interface...

was first introduced with this version under the name of Compressed folders. New games, such as Microsoft Golf

Links (computer game)

Links was the name of a series of golf simulation computer games, first developed by Access Software, and then later by Microsoft Game Studios after Microsoft acquired Access Software. The line of golf games was a flagship brand for Access, and the series spanned several years: from 1990 to 2003...

98 Lite, Lose Your Marbles! and the now popular Spider Solitaire were also part of Plus! 98. A Deluxe CD Player with CDDB

CDDB

CDDB, short for Compact Disc Database, is a database for software applications to look up audio CD information over the Internet. This is performed by a client which calculates a unique disc ID and then queries the database. As a result, the client is able to display the artist name, CD title,...

support and a basic "express" version of Picture It! were also included. Finally, Plus! 98 came with McAfee VirusScan

McAfee VirusScan

McAfee VirusScan is an antivirus program created and maintained by McAfee Inc. . McAfee markets VirusScan to home and home-office users; McAfee also develops VirusScan Enterprise for use in corporate environments...

3.0, along with a six month supply of free updates.

Some Plus! 98 features such as Compressed folders and the Spider Solitaire game were included in Windows Me

Windows Me

Windows Millennium Edition, or Windows Me , is a graphical operating system released on September 14, 2000 by Microsoft, and was the last operating system released in the Windows 9x series. Support for Windows Me ended on July 11, 2006....

and later Windows versions. The Deluxe CD Player was included with Windows 2000.

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 other versions of Windows. It included the Microsoft Entertainment Pack: The Puzzle Collection

Microsoft Entertainment Pack: The Puzzle Collection

Microsoft Entertainment Pack: The Puzzle Collection is a collection of 10 puzzle computer games developed by Mir - Dialogue and published by Microsoft Games. The creator of Tetris, Alexey Pajitnov, designed some of the games featured in the pack. It was released on CD-ROM for Windows 95...

- 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

Marketed as “The Ultimate Companion for Windows XP”, Microsoft Plus! for Windows XP

Windows XP

Windows XP is an operating system produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops and media centers. First released to computer manufacturers on August 24, 2001, it is the second most popular version of Windows, based on installed user base...

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

Windows Media Player

Windows Media Player is a media player and media library application developed by Microsoft that is used for playing audio, video and viewing images on personal computers running the Microsoft Windows operating system, as well as on Pocket PC and Windows Mobile-based devices...

and DirectX

DirectX

Microsoft DirectX is a collection of application programming interfaces for handling tasks related to multimedia, especially game programming and video, on Microsoft platforms. Originally, the names of these APIs all began with Direct, such as Direct3D, DirectDraw, DirectMusic, DirectPlay,...

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 and Space, Robot Circus, Sand Pendulum, Mercury Pool and Plus! My Pictures Premium screensaver)
Plus! Voice Command for Windows Media Player
Windows Media Player
Windows Media Player is a media player and media library application developed by Microsoft that is used for playing audio, video and viewing images on personal computers running the Microsoft Windows operating system, as well as on Pocket PC and Windows Mobile-based devices...
Plus! Personal DJ
Plus! MP3 Converter
Plus! CD Label Maker
Plus! Speaker Enhancement
Plus! 3D Visualizations for Windows Media Player (Oddworld: Munch's Odyssee, Maxx's Kingdom and Plus! Undersea Wonders)
Plus! Skins for Windows Media Player
Plus! Hyperbowl
Hyperbowl Plus! Edition
Hyperbowl Plus! Edition is a 3-D bowling-style game made in 2001 by HyperEntertainment. It was created by Microsoft, and can only be accessed by use of a Microsoft Plus! CD-ROM.-Gameplay:...
Plus! Russian Square
Plus! Labyrinth
The Labyrinth Plus! Edition
The Labyrinth Plus! Edition, made by NonStop Entertainment, is a computer game for Windows XP. It consists of a 3-D maze puzzle in which the objective of the game is to get a ball to the end of a maze, using dots on the board to guide the player around the obstacles...

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

Windows XP Media Center Edition

Windows XP Media Center Edition is a version of the Windows XP operating system designed to serve as a home-entertainment hub. The last version, Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005, was released in October 2004.-Versions:...

. 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

Windows Movie Maker

Windows Movie Maker is a video creating/editing software application, included in Microsoft Windows Me, XP, and Vista. It contains features such as effects, transitions, titles/credits, audio track, timeline narration, and Auto Movie. New effects and transitions can be made and existing ones can be...

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
Photo Story
Microsoft Photo Story is a free application that allows users to create a visual story from their digital photos. The software uses the Ken Burns Effect on digital photos and allows adding narration, effects, transitions and background music to create a Windows Media Video movie file with pan and...

2
Plus! Party Mode
Plus! Analog Recorder
Plus! CD Label Maker
Plus! Dancer
Plus! Audio Converter
Plus! Effects and Transitions for Windows Movie Maker
Windows Movie Maker
Windows Movie Maker is a video creating/editing software application, included in Microsoft Windows Me, XP, and Vista. It contains features such as effects, transitions, titles/credits, audio track, timeline narration, and Auto Movie. New effects and transitions can be made and existing ones can be...

2
Plus! Alarm Clock
Plus! Sleep Timer
Plus! Skins for Windows Media Player 9 Series
Plus! Sync & Go for Pocket PC

Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005

Windows XP Media Center Edition

includes some of the themes and screensavers from Microsoft Plus! for Windows XP. 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. The Plus! series has been discontinued, as some of its features have been integrated into other Microsoft products such as Windows Vista