Windows Vista SP2 features list unofficially revealed

[Inctye]

Take a look at the article form ZDNet.

It looks mostly like under the hood reliability and performance fixes, along with improvements for Bluetooth and Wifi management as revealed earlier. Regardless, I am looking forward to March/April when RTM comes out.

Also, it looks like Windows Vista Team dropped the news that they will pushing out Vista/Server 2008 SP2 beta on Dec 4 (this Thursday) for its MSDN and Technet subscribers. Those of you who like to dig into this stuff as early as they can, keep eye out on those torrents. Someone will surely leak a copy soon.

Edited December 2, 2008 by EverReddy

[pyehac]

Hey, whatever makes our installs faster.

[Ci7]

looking good

Emerging Hardware Support

?SP2 contains Blue tooth 2.1 feature pack supporting the most recent specification for Blue tooth technology

?Ability to record data on Blu-Ray media,

?Adds Windows Connect Now (WCN) Wi-Fi Configuration to Windows Vista SP2,

?exFAT file system now supports UTC timestamps, which enables correct file synchronization across time zones.

?SP2 provides support for new form factors, such as ICCD/CCID. new form factor support ?example USB form factor as opposed to PCMCIA).

?Support for the new VIA 64-bit CPU

Security

?SP2 includes all previously released security updates, and builds on the proven security benefits of Windows Vista

?Secure Development Lifecycle process updates, where we identify the root cause of each security bulletin and improve our internal tools to eliminate code patterns that could lead to future vulnerabilities

?Reliability

?SP2 addresses previously released reliability updates, as well as addressing crashes, caused by Microsoft code, discovered since the launch of SP1

Performance

?Resume performance when Wi-Fi connection is no longer available after resume from sleep

?Inclusion of Windows Search 4 for improved indexing performance, improved relevancy in search, broader indexing scenario inclusion, as well as new Group Policy integration for Windows Search,

?Improvements to the RSS feeds sidebar gadget to improve update performance and responsiveness

Application Compatibility

?It is our goal that applications that run on the Windows Vista Operating System today and are written using public APIs will continue to work as designed on Windows Vista SP2.

?Previously released Application Compatibility updates are included in Windows Vista SP2.

?Spysweeper and ZoneAlarm now working with POP3 email accounts

Administration and Support Improvements

?Customers installing .net framework 3.5 service pack 1 will notice shorter download and installation times with Vista service pack 2 or Windows 2008 service pack 2 already installed,

?Service Pack Clean up tool (Compcln.exe): This tool helps restore the hard disk space by permanently deleting the previous versions of the files (RTM & SP1) that are being serviced by Service Pack 2.

?Single installer for both Vista & Server 2008

?Ability to detect an incompatible driver and block service pack installation or warn users of any loss of functionality

?Better error handling and providing more descriptive error messages where possible

?Better manageability through logging in system event log

?Componentization for Serviceability of the installer

Some Specific Fixes/Additions Include:

?Inclusion of Hyper-V

?Event logging support in SPC

?DNS Server now listens over ISATAP address

?Fixes DRM issues from WMP upgrades

?Windows Vista Feature Pack for Wireless

?Reduction of resources required for sidebar gadgets

?Improved power settings for WS08

source:Zdnet , MJF

[coresx]

Cool. Wish we didn't have to wait till next year for the final but all good in the end.

[Pupik]

Cool. Wish we didn't have to wait till next year for the final but all good in the end.

Dude, it's the 3rd in December now. Next year is just around the corner.

[_neutrino Veteran]

Im still not to sure about Vista I have used it i like what it can do i like the features however with the same computer hardware running windows XP/Ubuntu/Arch i simply get better performance out of the machine.

[CPressland]

Im still not to sure about Vista I have used it i like what it can do i like the features however with the same computer hardware running windows XP/Ubuntu/Arch i simply get better performance out of the machine.

Well, I hate the hell out of Windows Vista but it's a lot faster then XP and Ubuntu on my Machine. Microsoft made a huge step foward with SP1 and SP2 should be just as good

[Jason S. Global Moderator]

Im still not to sure about Vista I have used it i like what it can do i like the features however with the same computer hardware running windows XP/Ubuntu/Arch i simply get better performance out of the machine.

punctuation, please.

"Im still not to sure about Vista. I have used it. i like what it can do. i like the features; however, with the same computer hardware running windows XP/Ubuntu/Arch, i simply get better performance out of the machine."

SP2 is shaping up nicely... too bad it's a few months off

[Inctye]

Well, I hate the hell out of Windows Vista but it's a lot faster then XP and Ubuntu on my Machine. Microsoft made a huge step foward with SP1 and SP2 should be just as good

There was another interesting thread that kind of discussed over this. For a lot of people, they just felt it was a lot of work to try to learn the redesigned GUI and figure out where some of the stuff got moved to. But, what most failed to realize is that Vista was the future and MS is not going to go back. Sooner they spend a couple weeks getting used to Vista, the more you learn to like it and that will just make Windows 7 so much more enjoyable.

Based on the potential release dates, I being enjoying SP2 that much since Win7 will be out like two months later.