James Bannan03 December 2008, 7:00 AM
Still holding out on Vista? Not convinced by the SP1 fixes? Maybe SP2 will sweeten the deal.
Still holding out on Vista? Not convinced by the SP1 fixes? Maybe SP2 will sweeten the deal.
In a
recent posting, Tech ARP has released information it obtained from "a confidential source" about the release schedule of Windows Vista Service Pack 2, along with
some details about what we can expect from Vista's next major update.
According to the rumour mill, an RC build (Release Candidate) of SP2 will be released in February 2009, with the final RTM build (Release to Manufacturing) coming out in April 2009.
As with prior builds, we'll be expecting the RTM build to be first released to OEM builders, Volume License customers and MSDN and TechNet subscribers before being generally released the public. Users with access to integrated builds should see their download subscriptions updated with SP2-integrated installation media along with the standalone update package. This gives system builders and IT Pros the ability to start updating their image repositories and testing internal SOE builds.
As with previous service packs, the RTM will probably be released in waves, supporting different language packs. The main five languages Microsoft tend to support first with their major builds and updates are English, French, German, Japanese and Spanish, with other language builds coming out approximately one month later.
When SP2 is released to the public, it will almost definitely use the release methodology which Microsoft employed when deploying SP1 - the service pack will be made available for download as a standalone update package, and then later via Windows Update.
One important thing to note is that Windows Vista SP2 might be more accurately called Windows Longhorn SP2, is it seems that the release will coincide with the release of Windows Server 2008 SP2 (Vista and Server 2008 share the same kernel version). For IT Pros this will mean a lot of testing to ensure compatibility between the two platforms, both during the public beta phase and past RTM.
So what can we expect in SP2?
- Windows Search 4.0 for faster and improved search accuracy. This is already available to Windows Vista users as an optional download via Windows Update
- Bluetooth 2.1 Feature Pack supporting the most recent specification for Bluetooth Technology
- Ability to record data on to Blu-ray media natively. There's no information whether Blu-ray movie playback functionality might be included
- Windows Connect Now (WCN) to simplify wireless connectivity and configuration
- Enables the exFAT file system to support Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) timestamps, which allows correct file synchronization across time zones
As for Windows Server 2008, SP2 is expected to include the Hyper-V RTM build - this is available to Server 2008 systems now via Windows Update and WSUS - and some power profile changes which should give about a 10% improvement in power efficiency.
From the perspective of Vista users, at this stage SP2 is looking much more like a feature pack than the major update of fixes and patches which SP1 represented. Presumably as more information about the service pack comes to light we'll find out more about some of the underlying changes and any particular outstanding problems Microsoft are looking to fix.
And unless there are particularly attractive enhancements, it also probably won't do much to change user perspectives of Vista. The technical problems which plagued Vista's early days have pretty much been resolved with SP1 and subsequent patches, but opinion on the OS is still firmly divided between those who find it to be a solid, stable and responsive operating system (like me) and people who think it's the modern-day embodiment of Black Death. If you find yourself on the garlic-wearing side of the fence, based on the details we have so far it's not likely that SP2 will result in a raft of Vista converts, but we'll wait and see.