Today, Microsoft Windows Vista team has announced, through their blog, formal information about the Microsoft Windows Vista Service Pack 1 beta, how you can get it, and when it’s going to be available for widespread testing. Microsoft’s Jon DeVaan (Senior Vice President of MS’s Windows Core Operating Systems Division) also had some comments about their goals and timelines.
Brief Summary – What it will contain:
– Previously released updates
– Changes that address reliability and performance issues (including copying files and shutting down)
– Additional support for new types and revisions of hardware (Drivers, etc.)
– Additional support for “several emerging standards” (EFI, ExFat file system for flash memory drives)
– Improvements concerning the “IT administration experience” (SL Note: presumably this means helping out system and network administrators in corporate or similar settings).
– Bettery printer management
– BitLocker Drive Encryption for “encrypting multiple volumes on the PC”
– Improved network diagnostics
Specifics:
– Around 50MB in size (Depending on where it’s obtained).
– A broader release of Windows Vista SP1 is scheduled to roll out in the next few weeks (it’s currently in limited testing right now). This is expected to be released to over 10,000 testers.
– Pre-Release of SP1 will be rolled out later on through MSDN and be made available to Microsoft TechNet subscribers.
– SP1 is scheduled to be released to manufacturing sometime during the first quarter of 2008.
Windows Server 2008:
– Also scheduled for the first quarter of 2008.
Links:
– Windows Vista Team Blog
– Press Pass – Microsoft’s Jon DeVaan’s Comments
Thanks to Tim for emailing this in.