Windows Vista Sp1 Weighs In At 1gb...

[Teddy Rogers]

Microsoft will release the first service pack for Windows Vista in Q1 2008 and the company has revealed that test versions of the update are currently 1GB; Redmond also admitted it is working on Windows XP SP3.

Microsoft will soon start testing a beta of Service Pack 1 for Vista as well as a third service pack for Windows XP. The company plans initially to release the Vista beta to 10,000 pre-selected testers, though it may expand that release later. A small group of testers are already working with a "beta preview" version.

As for what's in the Vista update, it's mostly a collection of existing fixes and tweaks aimed at improving stability and reliability of the operating system, which went on sale to consumers this January.

There are a few minor enhancements, most notably the ability to encrypt multiple hard drive partitions using Vista's BitLocker feature.

"Lots of folks gave feedback that 'We have an OS partition and a data partition and we'd like to encrypt both,'" Boettcher said.

Also being added are support for an emerging removable storage file format known as exFAT as well as for EFI (extensible firmware interface), an alternative to the BIOS (basic input output system) that handles the initial start-up of a system.

Vista SP1 will be a large download: Roughly 1GB, based on current test versions. By way of comparison, Windows XP -- the whole thing -- shipped on a CD, which only holds about three quarters of a gigabyte. Installing the OS upgrade will require 7GB of free hard drive space, though much of that will be returned to the user once the megapatch is applied, Microsoft said.

The key question is what, if any, impact the contents of the update or its timing will have on the plans of large businesses to move to Vista. IDC analyst Al Gillen predicted that it won't have that big of an effect.

"It doesn't fundamentally change the landscape for Windows Vista adoption," Gillen said.

Microsoft has set out ambitious goals for business adoption of Vista, saying it expected businesses to move to Vista in the first year at twice the rate they did with Windows XP.

Gillen said that businesses seem to be moving at generally the same pace as with previous releases.

As for the coming Windows XP update, Microsoft didn't give many details, but did say that it is planned to be the last significant update for the operating system, which debuted in October 2001.

"There's not a lot we have to say there," Boettcher said. "It's really an end-of-life (patch) roll-up for Windows XP."

Microsoft's largest prior discussion of the Vista service pack came in a June court filing, in which the company agreed to make changes to Vista's desktop search feature in response to complaints from Google. In the filing, Microsoft said the changes would come in SP1 and that a beta of the service pack would come this year.

On Tuesday, Mike Burk, a senior product manager at Microsoft, said that the desktop search changes would not be part of the beta, but rather would be added at a later date. On Wednesday, the company said the search changes will indeed come with SP1 beta when it enters testing in the next few weeks.

Aside from that, Microsoft steadfastly refused to comment on the service pack, except to say that there would be one. The company also maintained that service packs are not as important these days given all the updating of the operating system that Microsoft does online.

However, despite pleas from Microsoft that businesses need not wait for a service pack to adopt new releases, Boettcher acknowledged that the first service pack of major software releases remains a psychological milestone for some customers.

"It's not a perception that is going to change overnight," Boettcher said.

Microsoft has been increasingly delivering patches one at a time, via various online updating services, but not all customers want things a patch at a time. "Some folks like to see it all rolled up," Boettcher said. "You are going to see us continue to do that over time."

http://www.cnet.com.au/software/operatings...00.htm?feed=rss

Ted.

[Guest P43]

OMG 1gb, I think it should be no problem if you have a new computer, because they come with harddisks with many gb.

Edited September 4, 2007 by P43

[Fungus]

xpsp3 is about 350mb too, I have already installed it (beta), it is quite nice.

[zer0buRn]

Well, considering they have a lot of sh!t to fix. 1GB is nothing nowadays honestly.

Edited September 4, 2007 by zer0buRn

[What]

Well, considering they have a lot of sh!t to fix. 1GB is nothing nowadays honestly.

Unless you still have dialup. But if it really stays at one gig, and they limit download speed, I never get top speed at Microsoft page, it could take some real time. They might offer like a 5 dollar dvd, I doubt free.

[Guest sLayer]

Time to upgrade

[Giggles]

A few new vista themes would be a nice addition to the service pack, bug fixes and enhancements are all good but im bored with the look of vista already.

[Baxter]

Bizarre, I can't even get the thing to install.. and I'm running Vista Ultimate.. weird??

It says, sorry - this cant install on your machine.. LOL

I have Vista Ultimate, with every update feature installed.. but SP1 cant recognise it!!

Here's the eula, for your information only...

MICROSOFT WINDOWS VISTA SERVICE PACK 1

These license terms are an agreement between Microsoft Corporation (or based on where you live, one of its affiliates) and you. Please read them. They apply to the pre-release software named above, which includes the media on which you received it, if any. The terms also apply to any Microsoft

[Baxter]

UPDATE:

All done, all installed.

And more importantly, all still showing GENUINE

The secret for those who may wish to tinker with this is:

Ensure ALL regional and language settings are set to English - US.. location set to US also.. then the service pack will install correctly.

Temp files created during the installation MUST be on a NTFS drive... so check where your Vista environment settings are pointing to. If you have all your temp files saving to another drive or partition... it MUST be NTFS.

Other than that.. installed like a charm and running as sweet as candy..

[3xpl05iv3]

Hi all just reading up on whats been said on this topic so far, for those who lets say dont have a legit copy of vista and are using either of the 2 processes (OEM Bios) or (Timestopper) after the final sp1 is rolledup it will probably not function.

Also coming with SP1 but not in the current release candidate, we will also be including updates that deal with two exploits we have seen, which can affect system stability for our customers.

Edited January 16, 2008 by 3xpl05iv3

[Guest corecore]

I don't have legal copy of Vista and will never. The only reason i use MS OS is b/c i'm a gamer and 80% of my games do not run on linux or mac. I am looking into Reactor OS, looking really nice for an alternative to linux and is being made to run windows base apps/games.

As for the SP1 over a GB, well i have the hdd space and i'm not installing the SP1 till its been out in final version for a few months and by then we will have a new working activation for vista anyway...

just my 2 cents