Microsoft Announces Windows Vista Service Pack 1 and Windows XP Service Pack 3 Beta
Today Microsoft officially announced its plans for Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) and Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3).
Windows Vista Service Pack 1
According to Microsoft the beta will be released in a few weeks to an audience of around 10,000 customers and partners. MSDN and TechNet members will gain access to a later milestone of the beta. In addition to previously released updates, SP1 will contain changes that address specific reliability and performance issues, as well as adding support for new types of hardware. While Microsoft doesn't intend to release new features with SP1, some existing components do gain enhanced functionality in SP1.
SP1 will also include support for some new standards such as
- ExFAT - a new file format that will be used in flash memory storage and consumer devices
- SD Advanced DMA Support - improves transfer performance and decrease CPU utilization
- SSTP - (Secure Sockets Tunnel Protocol) a remote access VPN tunneling protocol that will be part of Microsoft's RRAS (Routing and Remote Access Service) platform
Other improvements promised are:
- Network Diagnostics in Windows Vista SP1 will help users with the most common file sharing problems, in addition to basic problems already supported
- Disk Defragmenter update lets you control which volumes the disk defragmenter runs on
- BitLocker Drive Encryption has been enhanced to not only fully encrypt the entire Windows Vista volume but also any or all additional locally created data volumes
Microsoft expects to deliver SP1 during the first quarter of 2008, but also suggests that the final release date will depend on the feedback from the beta process.
More information can be found in the Windows Vista Service Pack 1 Beta White Paper.
Windows XP SP3
According to Microsoft, Windows XP SP3 will be a roll up of all the current hot fixes and patches including security updates, out of band releases and hotfixes. The only new functionality in SP3 will be Network Access Protection, which will require Windows Server 2008.
Microsoft is still only suggesting a release of SP3 in the 1st half of 2008.