If you’re running Windows Vista, go check Windows Update. Here’s what I just found when I checked a few minutes ago:
The important updates are mostly bug fixes, no security-related updates. That batch of 18 Optional Updates includes 15 Windows Vista Language Packs (for Ultimate Edition only).
Must … resist … poker … game…
Update: Apparently, some folks who live on Planet Mac are shocked, shocked! to discover that an operating system has updates the day before it’s officially released. Who wants to tell them that this particular OS was actually released to manufacturing nearly three months ago? And as I noted above, most of the updates are relatively obscure bug fixes, not security patches. Besides, who could imagine releasing a new operating system and shipping patches for it within days of its release?
Ed Bott (@ wordpress.com) 
So now the cost of Ultimate is FINALLY justifying itself!
I’m going to look into the BitLocker add-ons when I have a moment, but I hope they made it possible to convert an existing system to BitLocker instead of having to make that decision at install time.
I live in the UK and I’m still waiting for Windows Update to offer me my Ultimate Extras. I can’t wait until they arrive (soon I hope). I know they’re not really anything “that” spectacular but I have Ultimate and I want ’em!
You might also remind the denizens of Planet Mac that when OS X gets software updates, they’re usually around 100MB or more. Keeping those Macs up to date sure requires lots of time and bandwidth. Of course, no one blogs about that.
I had gotten updates from time to time on new drivers. I suppose all those in planet mac will now call Vista a failure.
By the way, my mini just got a wifi update that required a reboot. gasp the mac faithful never blog about the reboots that are required for some udpates.
I’m still running RC2 and don’t see the updates.
Guess its Circuit City for Ultimate and my Texas Hold’em.
I too am running rc2, nothing showing on updates.Being in the UK and/or europe,means being last in the queue, yet again!!!.
I’m pretty sure you’re not going to get any of those updates with RC2.
What was the first thing I had to do when I bought my two Macs? Yup, install software updates. And as has already been mentioned, Mac updates are usually pretty big, since applications like iPhoto and QuickTime are ‘universal’ so that they run on both PPC and Intel Macs and therefore are twice as big as they could be.
And yes, we Mac users do get system updates which require reboots. Not all of them do, but usually the security, platform, driver and QuickTime upgrades do, which, to be honest, make up about 60% of the updates we get.
So, really, Vista is no worse than OS X in that regard.
Follow-up: Yup, one of the new BitLocker things is indeed a tool to let you convert an existing system to use BL. I wish this wasn’t an Ultimate Extra, though; it’s too genuinely useful to be locked up like that (pun intended)
How does Microsoft prevent these Ultimate extras from being copied and used in other Vista versions?