Activity Centers

Activity Centers was a Microsoft Windows feature originally intended for Windows ME, then Windows Neptune,^[1] then Windows XP,^[2]^[3] before being scrapped early on in XP's development.

Activity Centers would have been single-window applications, written in a combination of HTML and the Win32 API, that facilitate easy ways to complete common tasks.^[3] In Neptune build 5111, Mars.exe serves as the framework (hence, the name "Mars Framework") for running such web pages as framed applications.^[4] Mars uses the XML file in the folder of an Activity Center as the page's main layout. The msjava.dll also appears to be the number one dependency of this app, which Ken found when fiddling around with various msjava installations to get the Game Center in that build working.^[5]

By default, Activity Centers would have opened to a "home page", which would contain links to the top priority tasks exposed by the application. Secondary Task pages would have provided the user with obvious ways to complete single tasks.^[3]

The user interface would have been divided horizontally into a "navbar" and a larger content area. The navbar would have provided a simplified navigational scheme similar to that in a Web browser, so that "back" and "forward" buttons are provided along with other common buttons.^[3]

Windows ME was originally envisioned to include several Activity Centers. The Start page, Photo Center, Music Center, Help Center, and System Restore are available but hidden by default in Windows ME build 2358^[6]^[7] However, according to Paul Thurrott, by the release of Beta 1 in the fall of 1999, it was clear that the underlying Activity Center technology was not going to be far enough along to provide the needed HTML hooks into the more traditional Win32 interface. Therefore, only the Help Center (renamed Help and Support Center) and System Restore shipped in Windows ME RTM. AutoUpdate, intended to be an Activity Center, became a traditional application. Windows Media Player was expanded and redesigned to perform the features intended for the Music Center.^[3]

Neptune build 5111 came with the Start page, Photo Center, Music Center, Game Center, Help and Support Center, and Microsoft AutoUpdate. The first four could be installed by following these steps.

Windows Whistler build 2250 contained a Startpage (no spaces) at %SystemRoot%\Web\Startpage.^[8]

Gallery

Windows ME

Help Center and System Properties in build 2358 (Source: Overdoze)^[6]
Start page, with links to the Music and Photo Center, in build 2358 (Source: Lukas Marsik)^[7]
Customize Start page in build 2358 (Source: Lukas Marsik)^[7]
Music Center in build 2358 (Source: Lukas Marsik)^[7]
Photo Center in build 2358 (Source: Lukas Marsik)^[7]
Help and Support in Beta 1 build 2380.2

Windows Neptune

Build 5111 Start page, with links to the Music, Photo, Games, and Help and Support Centers
Build 5111 AutoUpdate first page
Build 5111 AutoUpdate placeholder End User License Agreement
Build 5111 Help and Support Center, with Start page on the desktop
Build 5111 Help and Support Center - "Report a bug to the Windows Neptune Beta team."
Build 5111 Help and Support Center - "Section III: System Information"
Build 5111 Help and Support Center - "Submitting Bug Report"

Concept images shared by Paul Thurrott

"Microsoft conceptual design for an Activity Center "home page."" (Source: Paul Thurrott)^[3]
"Microsoft conceptual design for an Activity Center secondary task page." (Source: Paul Thurrott)^[3]
"Microsoft conceptual design for an Activity Center secondary task page." (Source: Paul Thurrott)^[3]
"Neptune concept shot that features several proposed Activity Centers. Image courtesy of ActiveWin." (Source: Paul Thurrott)^[3]

Thurrott credits John C. Dvorak for the images below. According to Microsoft, these images were not intended to be the final UI, but only a study to see what a task-based Windows interface might look like.^[9]

"Microsoft conceptual design for an "Entertainment Center", which was never part of the original Millennium spec." (Source: Paul Thurrott)^[3]
"Microsoft conceptual design for "Photo Center"." (Source: Paul Thurrott)^[3]
"Microsoft conceptual design for "Search & Explore", an Activity Center that was not part of the original Millennium spec." (Source: Paul Thurrott)^[3]
"Not Neptune, but an interesting Activity Center design study" (Source: Paul Thurrott)^[9]
"Not Neptune, but an interesting Activity Center design study" (Source: Paul Thurrott)^[9]

Windows XP source code

BetaArchive user TinaMeineKatze pointed out that what look like Activity Centers concept art screenshots are available in the Windows XP source code that leaked in 2020.^[10]

"./NT/windows/advcore/duser/resources/monthlyview.bmp" (Source: TinaMeineKatze)^[10]
"./NT/windows/advcore/duser/resources/dailyview.bmp" (Source: TinaMeineKatze)^[10]

References

↑ Thurrott, Paul (5 July 2000). The Road to Gold: The development of Windows Me. Paul Thurrott's SuperSite for Windows. Archived from the original on 16 August 2000. Retrieved on 8 April 2022.
↑ Thurrott, Paul (5 March 2000). Activity Centers, A Windows Me technology showcase. Paul Thurrott's SuperSite for Windows. Archived from the original on 16 August 2000. Retrieved on 8 April 2022.
↑ ^3.00 ^3.01 ^3.02 ^3.03 ^3.04 ^3.05 ^3.06 ^3.07 ^3.08 ^3.09 ^3.10 ^3.11 Thurrott, Paul (5 July 2000). Activity Centers Preview. Paul Thurrott's SuperSite for Windows. Archived from the original on 4 May 2000. Retrieved on 8 April 2022.
↑ Ken (12 May 2010). Re: Windows Mars in Windows Neptune. BetaArchive. Retrieved on 8 April 2022.
↑ Ken (28 July 2010). Re: Windows Mars in Windows Neptune. BetaArchive. Retrieved on 8 April 2022.
↑ ^6.0 ^6.1 Overdoze (20 March 2019). [RELEAK Windows Me build 2358]. BetaArchive. Retrieved on 8 April 2022.
↑ ^7.0 ^7.1 ^7.2 ^7.3 ^7.4 Lukas Marsik (21 March 2019). Re: [RELEAK Windows Me build 2358]. BetaArchive. Retrieved on 8 April 2022.
↑ Kenneth (30 August 2007). Whistler 2250 Startpage. BetaArchive. Retrieved on 8 April 2022.
↑ ^9.0 ^9.1 ^9.2 Thurrott, Paul. Windows XP: The Road to Gold. Paul Thurrott's SuperSite for Windows. Archived from the original on 28 August 2001. Retrieved on 8 April 2022.
↑ ^10.0 ^10.1 ^10.2 TinaMeineKatze (26 September 2020). Re: M$ source code leak apparently contains XP. BetaArchive. Retrieved on 8 April 2022.