After both public and private betas galore, Microsoft is set to make the final, gold Windows Vista Service Pack (SP) 1 bits available, most likely this week.
Last week, there was reports of SP1 bits being available on torrents. I asked Microsoft earlier this week if these builds were, as some were saying, the final Vista SP1 bits. And, as usual, the Windows client team wasn’t saying a whole lot.
On January 29, a Microsoft spokeswoman said Vista SP1 had yet to be officially released to manufacturing. The recent SP1 Release Candidate (RC) Refresh 2 is not the RTM build, the spokeswoman said. “And we’re not commenting on the build number,” she said, when I asked whether the “18000″ build number was the RTM version.
Vista SP1 will deliver in one package the various security, performance and reliability fixes Microsoft has been making to Vista for the past year-plus. SP1 also will include a few new minor features, including a less strident Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) piracy check and a tweak in the way Vista works with and displays third-party search engines.
XP SP3 Refresh 2 and Vista SP1 RC Refresh 2 Join Windows 7
on to torrent sites
Windows XP Service Pack 3 Release Candidate Refresh 2 and Windows Vista Service Pack 1 Release Candidate Refresh 2 have joined Windows 7 on torrent trackers.
Pirated versions of Microsoft's software products and especially those developed under the Windows umbrella brand have a tradition of migrating on peer-to-peer file sharing networks. And Beta variants of the Windows operating system make no exception to this rule. And in this context, the second Refresh of the Release Candidate versions of XP SP3 and Vista SP1 have been leaked and are now available for download via BitTorrent clients, just like Windows 7.
With all the excitement orbiting around the first development release of Windows 7, namely Milestone 1 Ultimate edition Build version 6.1 (Build 6519.1.x86fre.winmain.071220-1525) ISO 6519.1.071220-1525, downloads claiming to be the next iteration of the Windows operating systems have begun popping out on various torrent trackers. According to reports from users that simply could not help it to jump the gun, all the Windows 7 torrents are actually ISO files containing everything but the next version of Windows.
But while fake zero byte ISO images are masquerading as the Windows 7 M1 release, the same is not the case with Vista SP1 and XP SP3. Vista SP1 RC Refresh 2 Build 6001.18000 is offered in a variety of ways, from a standalone installer to a slipstream installation. The registry script that Microsoft offers Connect users in order to tweak the Vista registry to identify, download and install Vista SP1 from Windows Update servers also leaked alongside torrents that claim to be the final version of the service pack. This is obviously not the case. Windows Vista SP1 is set to be released to manufacturing by the end of the first quarter of 2008, with all indications pointing to February for a more realistic RTM date.
News Analysis. Uh-oh! Two Fs and only one A mean Vista won't be going to the head of the class.
Windows Vista's one-year anniversary is Wednesday. Microsoft released the software to everybody on Jan. 30, 2007. A day earlier, Microsoft held a launch gala for Vista and Office 2007 in New York.
In this post, I score how well Vista has done in 12 areas since its real launch 12 months ago. Microsoft also launched Vista on Nov. 30, 2006. But the release that matters—when businesses or consumers could buy PCs—happened two months later.
I chose attributes that I believe matter most in evaluating Vista's real relevance, particularly in relationship to Windows XP. The scoring is my own, based on my personal experience using Windows Vista for nearly two years and on my assessment of other users' perceptions and experiences, including Microsoft customers and partners.
In fairness to Microsoft, each grade should be explained:
Technology. Vista isn't exceptionally better than XP, but nuances do matter. Improved manageability, networking, search and security—the plumbing—are worthwhile benefits. B.
Marketing. Microsoft killed the "Wow" ad campaign nearly as soon as it started. Ever since, Microsoft has failed to seriously market Vista. D.
In fairness to Microsoft, each grade should be explained:
Technology. Vista isn't exceptionally better than XP, but nuances do matter. Improved manageability, networking, search and security—the plumbing—are worthwhile benefits. B.
Marketing. Microsoft killed the "Wow" ad campaign nearly as soon as it started. Ever since, Microsoft has failed to seriously market Vista. D.
Candidate Refresh 2 have joined Windows 7 on torrent trackers.
muBlinder 3.54 (72713)
wpa_registry (16912)
