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Vista SP1 timeline revealed

Published on 30th August 2007 by Phil Cogar

SP1 is coming in late 2007..I mean early 2008. Hold on, it'll be out by the end of the year. Oops, sorry, now it's next year. Oh nevermind already, I give up.

Based on some leaked emails to testers, we reported last month that Service Pack 1 for Vista would be out by the end of the year. Unfortunately, that one isn't coming true but it won't be long after it before it's released. Microsoft has given an official statement saying that it will be out in the first quarter of 2008.

SP1 won't be bringing any new features to the flagship OS, but expect to see plenty of improvements to existing features and security.

"I should start by saying that one thing people shouldn’t expect to see is new features, although some existing components and features will be enhanced." said Jon DeVaan, senior vice president of the Windows Core Operating System division. "For example, we’ve added support in BitLocker Drive Encryption for encrypting multiple volumes on the PC, and have improved printer management by simplifying printing to a local printer from within a Terminal Server session. Service packs typically are not vehicles for new features, and the same will be true with Windows Vista SP1."

According to the SP1 white paper, the key features in the release will be quality improvements, improvements to the administration experience and support for emerging hardware and standards.

Beta versions of the Service Pack will be made available to more than 10,000 within the next couple of weeks so the rest of us can expect a torrent in the same time frame.

Have you been waiting on SP1 before you made the migration? Let us know over in the forums or in the comment section below.

25 Comments

Discuss in the forums Reply

DarkLord7854 30th August 2007, 17:40

I find Admin to be kinda screwy with Vista, like when I try to edit files and it says I don't have admin rights to it.. Yea.. >.>

Awoken 30th August 2007, 17:42

I'm impressed with Vista on my gf's laptop, it runs smoothly and all the programs she usually uses are compatible. I might make the jump after sp1 depending on how it gets on with games (I'll probably go dual boot for XP and older games).

Mister_Tad 30th August 2007, 17:49

Hopefully I'm in that 10,000 getting SP1 in a couple weeks, will probably just go for it then, after all, how beta can it be /touches wood

LeMaltor 30th August 2007, 18:42

Quote:

Beta versions of the Service Pack will be made available to more than 10,000 within the next couple of weeks so the rest of us can expect a torrent in the same time frame.

I lol'ed

wafflesomd 30th August 2007, 18:56

Which part says it won't hog up half of your ram?

LeMaltor 30th August 2007, 19:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by wafflesomd
Which part says it won't hog up half of your ram?

Google Vista ram management and educate yourself ;)

Buzzons 30th August 2007, 19:33

Well said LeMaltor

Slagging vista off when equipped with he facts is ok, when you just blindly abuse it.. that is just wrong

Mister_Tad 30th August 2007, 19:39

It is quite amusing when people buy 2-4GB of ram and then complain when it actually gets used.

Ramble 30th August 2007, 20:05

Actually Vista 'hogs' up near to 100% of your RAM, that is if you count the superfetch cache.
For actual background processes it hogs up around 30-50%. Notice I used %, because this is virtually true no matter what amount of RAm you have. 4GB, 50%. 2GB, 50%. 1GB, 50%.
Also, it drops that usage faster than a green snake up a sugarcane when an app actually needs it.

wuyanxu 30th August 2007, 20:13

hah, yeah. i love Vista's RAM managment. go into a game, game uses 700MB out of my 1GB, exit the game, Vista uses 500MB. minimum wasted!

hope SP1 fix the "start menu search 'word' can't launch Word 2007 issue".

Sam0r 30th August 2007, 20:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by wuyanxu
hah, yeah. i love Vista's RAM managment. go into a game, game uses 700MB out of my 1GB, exit the game, Vista uses 500MB. minimum wasted!

hope SP1 fix the "start menu search 'word' can't launch Word 2007 issue".

Works fine for me, unless you're on about something other than pressing winkey > typing 'word' then hitting enter?

wuyanxu 30th August 2007, 20:55

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sam0r
Works fine for me, unless you're on about something other than pressing winkey > typing 'word' then hitting enter?

yeah, i've got Word 2007 installed, hit Start key, type Word, and press Enter when Microsoft Office Word 2007 is selected does nothing what so ever.

Sam0r 30th August 2007, 20:55

Weird, try doing it fast. Like w-o-r-d-enter instead of waiting for anything to come up.

GoodBytes 31st August 2007, 00:54

Would be nice if SP1 makes Vista boot a bit faster.It's not an issue for me (currently) as I leave my comp turn on. But I'm thinking of getting a laptop, and I will shut-down here and there, and I don't want to drain my battery because it takes forever to load.

Brooxy 31st August 2007, 01:53

I just leave mine in standby. When it's on, the battery lasts only for about 1.5 - 2 hours dependant on usage, but in standby, I can quite happily go to work, come home and nearly have a full battery. Hopefully, SP1 will give a better shutdown time, as it takes a fair while on my laptop

paul2345 31st August 2007, 08:06

Vista occupy too much ram for me , i hope this can be improved.but it really looks cool and shine.

wuyanxu 31st August 2007, 09:05

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sam0r
Weird, try doing it fast. Like w-o-r-d-enter instead of waiting for anything to come up.

doesn't work.

it has to be a shortcut. if you open word's property, it's not a shortcut, it's just says "target: Microsoft Office Professional 2007"

Nikumba 31st August 2007, 09:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by paul2345
Vista occupy too much ram for me , i hope this can be improved.but it really looks cool and shine.

How much does it occupy? By design Vista is made to use your ram to give you a better user experience rather than just doing nothing with it.

Kimbie

ComputerKing 31st August 2007, 09:52

Vista is amazing without any SP1 But Who knows ;)

Thanks for this information. CK.

DougEdey 31st August 2007, 17:15

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=28215

Tim, it looks like you may need to retest to see if high end gaming improves

automagsrock 3rd September 2007, 17:34

The only issue I have had with VIsta since installing it back in April is the RAM usage. Hopefully SP1 will take care of that and then I will have no issues with Vista at all :)

The more I use Vista the more I love it. Except for the RAM issue I honestly cannot find a problem (well a problem to me) with it. I don't consider games compatibility issues an OS thing it's more that the game company just needs to release a Vista-Compatability patch.

IDK maybe I'm just to lenient :P

DougEdey 3rd September 2007, 18:08

THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH THE RAM USAGE!

RAM is there to be used!

Bauul 3rd September 2007, 18:31

I think a lot of people see 700Mb of RAM usage, and presume that's how much Vista needs as a minimum, all of the time. They presume if they run a game, that's 700Mb taken away from the game, as oppose to the truth that Vista frees up crap loads of that whenever an app needs it.

DougEdey 3rd September 2007, 18:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bauul
I think a lot of people see 700Mb of RAM usage, and presume that's how much Vista needs as a minimum, all of the time. They presume if they run a game, that's 700Mb taken away from the game, as oppose to the truth that Vista frees up crap loads of that whenever an app needs it.

But it upsets me :'(

It's a shame because Microsoft have forced people into this belief that lower memory usage is better.

wuyanxu 3rd September 2007, 19:06

well, at Vista's startup, i see 800MB of RAM being used, and then drop back to 500MB (on 1GB machine). then, after exiting a game, and just before Aero kicks in, i see less than 300MB used.

so there's no problem with Vista's RAM managment, in fact, it's very good. the desktop still feels very fluent after a heavy gaming section. in XP SP2, you will feel sluggish after every gaming section.