-
Russell Mickler, Principal Consultant, has over 17 years of professional experience leading and managing IT organizations.
Windows Vista SP1 Timetable
Written on March 7, 2008
Leave a Comment
|
Latest knews that I know of from the Microsoft Partner’s distribution channel.
1. March 18, 2008. SP1 will be made available on Windows Update, Download Center, MSDN, and TechNet.
2. April 18, 2008. SP1 will be pushed via automated Windows update.
3. Vista Ultimate’s SP1 will be distributed on a different schedule and will be released later (time as of yet unspecified). The reason: the 31 language packs aren’t done with tweaking; English-supported Ultimate’s SP1 will be released “shortly”, but I get the impression that it ain’t going to be March 18.
SP1 will be a major overhaul with Vista and address a lot of problems, but the release has already been pushed back because of compatability problems with 3rd party OEM software (security and antivirus software). Notably, the o/s’ kernel is re-released in this service pack.
Myself, I’m expecting a lot of small business compatability problems, performance problems, and general integration problems. Testing thus far has yielded slower performance, problems on restart after application of SP1, and service stall/failure after launch. Still, many tech pros are looking forward to the release to address some serious issues with Windows.
The following end-user features are included in Vista’s Service Pack 1:
1. Previously released and new security fixes, bug fixes, and other minor updates.
2. An update to the Windows kernel (version 6.0 -> version 6.1, current with Windows Server 2008).
3. Kernel Patch Protection (“PatchGuard”) update. KPP in Vista prevents security companies like McAfee and Symantec from integrating as tightly with the OS as they could in previous Windows versions. This will include a set of APIs aimed at helping developers write code that interacts with this security feature.
4. A change to Vista’s Instant Search feature. It will allow 3rd party developers to integrate their products with Vista’s search index.
5. A change to Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) that will remove the Reduced Functionality Mode (RFM) and Non-Genuine State (NGS) mode for Vista installs. Microsoft is getting rid of Genuine Advantage.
Low-level performance changes in Vista SP1 include:
Device compatibility, supporting from 40,000 compatible devices to just under 80,000 devices.
Logoed devices–Microsoft-certified devices – is also up from about 2000 to over 17,000 post SP1.
Improvements to audio and video are said to improve battery life by an average of 7 percent.
Application compatability, reliability (reduction in application hangs, crashed, non-responding apps, stalled services) is also supposed to be addressed. The metrics that I’ve read suggest by 50-percent, but I’ll wait and see.
File copy enhancements, UAC prompts actually disable after 30 days… All of it is something to look forward to, but probably pose a risk to normal “lay” users in the field. Hold your breath, everybody: it’s going to be a long month.