Testers Get a Look at Vista SP1

[CadCrazy]

Microsoft rolls out a preview release candidate that includes changes to the setup and installation experience.

Microsoft has released a preview release candidate for Windows Vista SP1 to a large group of beta testers.
The software maker released the first, private Vista SP1 beta to some 12,000 pre-selected testers in September. At that time, it also promised a larger public beta was in the cards but declined to say when it would be available.


The RC preview beta, which was released late Nov. 14 and includes changes to the setup and installation experience made as a result of tester feedback, was made available to 15,000 pre-selected beta testers, just 3,000 more than the first beta.
Microsoft now plans to make a Vista SP1 release candidate available to a broader group of testers in the near future, the company said in a statement that gave no additional details except to say it was still targeting the first quarter of 2008 to release SP1 to manufacturing.


Even though Microsoft has downplayed the impact that SP1 is likely to have on business adoption of Windows Vista, analysts maintain that it is the key to turning around what has been extremely slow adoption by businesses of the new operating system.
Directions on Microsoft analyst Michael Cherry said he expects evaluations to pick up based on SP1 and said that if organizations find value there, deployments should increase.


Rob Enderle, an analyst with the Enderle Group, said that while some enterprises have reported problems with the initial version of Vista, early reports on SP1 indicate that many of their issues have been addressed. "Corporate adoption should start to pick up in 2008 if SP1 continues to perform well in tests," he said.
A report released Nov. 12 by Forrester Research put enterprise adoption of Vista at just 2 percent to date but said that nearly half of the 1,001 enterprises it surveyed have concrete plans to deploy the operating system.
"Many are waiting for news on SP1, which Microsoft has confirmed will be released in Q1 of 2008," Forrester analyst Benjamin Gray said in the report.




Source

[Vishal Gupta]

Yep. I got a mail from Microsoft today containing links for SP1 RC. There were links to both full Vista Image containing SP1 and the other one for a stand-alone installer.

I had to uninstall previous SP1 beta to install this new one, it took approx. 20 minutes to uninstall previous Beta.

And for my wonder this new SP1 RC took 1.5 hours to install but after installing it my Vista is much faster and smoother.

[Charan]

^^ im waiting for SP1 final like hell ..

BTW whats the sizeof SP1? and will MS send DVD/CD, cause they had sent SP2 for XP.

[Vishal Gupta]

^^ Size of SP1 RC is approx. 500 MB and full ISO image size is 3GB.
Can't say about shipment. May be or may be not?

[preshit.net]

500MB

[shantanu]

but Sp1 rocks in RC phase too ! vishal you got it ?

[Charan]

Dear SP1 RC testers .. can you share your experience about the release with us like boot time improvement, resuming from standby and hibernation,file copy enhancements , security and other stuff .. which is not under NDA..

[gxsaurav]

This also has a timebomb, keep that in mind.

[CadCrazy]

Originally Posted by gx_saurav

This also has a timebomb

Originally Posted by Vishal Gupta

And for my wonder this new SP1 RC took 1.5 hours

[Charan]

^^^ time bomb means the installation will stop working ( reduced mode or whatever its called ) after a prefix date.. just like trial softwares expires after 30 days or so..

[CadCrazy]

Thanks charan

[Vishal Gupta]

Originally Posted by shantanu

but Sp1 rocks in RC phase too ! vishal you got it ?

Yep.

[narangz]

Well I have a question. What can we OEM users do? We cant slipstream SP in those restore discs. Spending nearly two hours on installing SP is a very tiresome task.

[Vishal Gupta]

^^ Its a testing build thats why its taking so much time. Remember Vista beta build installation time? Its was same but the time was greatly reduced in the final build. So I think the same will happen with SP1 final.

[narangz]

^^ I really hope so! Fingers crossed

[shantanu]

yeah ! its true.. not 1.5 but it took about an hour for me.. , hey i am confused a bit, as my 64 bit installation seems to be a bit slow after SP1 , maybe some other problem..

[ax3]

1.5hrs just 2 install ..... holy bugs ..... bt it must b worth it ......

@Vguptaji, whots ur PC config ? ..... coz am gonna upgrade soon ..... & u being the VISTA guy, config must b good na ......

[Vishal Gupta]

^^ I'm using Vista on my Toshiba Tecra M4 laptop.

[narangz]

^^ 32bit or 64bit? Which edition of Vista are you using, buddy?

[Third Eye]

VG lappy's processor doesn't support 64-Bit applications so of course he is using Vista 32-bit.

[narangz]

^^ I didn't search what configuration his laptop has!

[Vishal Gupta]

^^ Yep. I'm using Vista Ultimate 32-bit.

[naveen_reloaded]

Very interesting.
Guys one question.
Service packs contain the updates which are available thru windows automatic update? Am i right?or is there anything special in them?
Anyway my vista now itself stop smooth like butter.i dont know how much smooth it will be after this service pack.

[gxsaurav]

Ok one thing just in...if u install these unofficial RC Builds which are there only for few selected testers, they u r n trouble as to install the next build or package u have to compleately remove the old build.

Refrain from installing Vista SP1 beta on production & work computers

[Vishal Gupta]

^^ Why? You can simply uninstall the SP from Programs & Features -> View Installed Updates.

Originally Posted by naveen_reloaded

Very interesting.
Guys one question.
Service packs contain the updates which are available thru windows automatic update? Am i right?or is there anything special in them?
Anyway my vista now itself stop smooth like butter.i dont know how much smooth it will be after this service pack.

Nope. Remember those performance & reliability updates which were released recently? Those updates were not given by Automatic Updates but there were links at Microsoft site to download them.

So Service Packs contain a few special updates which are not delivered by Automatic Updates and also a few new features sometimes like we got in XP SP2 but not always. There are new features in Vista SP1 too like option to defrag any particular drive and many enhancements to Bitlocker and other Windows features. So lets wait and watch what SP1 final comes with?

[Charan]

^^^ why is it so? I noticed this before with windows update, many new updates are not shown on Windows update.. I have to keep track of MS security bulletins often.. now I cannot trust windows update alone

[CadCrazy]

Originally Posted by Charan

I have to keep track of MS security bulletins often.. now I cannot trust windows update alone

To get more hits on their website

[ax3]

@guptaji ...... aap toh LAPPY wale ho ..... uuuche log uuuchi paasand ..... wah wah ....

[Charan]

^^^ his lappy IMO is a tablet

[Gigacore]

^ yuk, i hate tablets