Slashdot Mirror
Vista SP1 Coming In Q1 2008
Many readers sent in word of Microsoft's announcement of the schedule for Vista SP1. The Beskerming blog has a good summary. Up to 15,000 people will get access to a beta of SP1 by the end of September; general release is targeted (not promised in stone) for early 2008. The service pack is said to improve performance and stability, not to add features.
It's pretty clear now that Vista should not have even been released until Q1 of 2008.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
Dammit, screw Vista, where's my SP3 for Windows XP?
Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
I'd bet the release of SP1 ends up being good for everyone. People that already have Vista will have (at least some of) their performance issues sorted out. Then, since Vista won't be as broken as it has been, more copies should sell, leading to better development for it. As much as people say they'll never move off of XP, people said that about 98. It's not that nobody upgrades to the new versions of Windows anymore; they're just (rightfully) a bit more cautious about it now.
... 1GB
*agog*
And you need 7GB of disk space? Are you sure this is just a service pack? Bloat!!
If you look around the web, you'll find that the main two fixes to be included in SP1 are already out, and have been since the beginning of August.
Ars Technica article about the packs
I look forward to this much-needed update being released in November 2011.
Isn't that more than are running Vista right now?
Hmm... Here we go again.....Vista doesn't chew memory upp, for crying out loud! . Vista is USING the memory that is unused. What do you pay for your memory for? To have it unused? If nobody is using it, Vista will just use it damn it!. Don't worry, if some application will need it, Vista's memory manager will give it back.
It's time to realise that Abble's products are the biggest abomination these days. Just say NO to the dumb iAbble way!!
If the intention is to fix everything that's wrong with Vista, I'm impressed they got it all into only 1 GB.
Unless you are saying you need more ram (which may be true), this is why Vista always has all of the memory utilized
v ista/features/details/superfetch.mspx
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windows
SuperFetch
Windows SuperFetch enables programs and files to load much faster than they would on Windows XP-based PCs.
When you're not actively using your computer, background tasks--including automatic backup programs and antivirus scans--run when they will least disturb you. These background tasks can take up system memory space that your programs had been using. On Windows XP-based PCs, this can slow progress to a crawl when you attempt to resume work.
SuperFetch monitors which applications you use the most and preloads these into your system memory so they'll be ready when you need them. Windows Vista also runs background programs, like disk defragmenting and Windows Defender, at low priority so that they can do their job but your work always comes first.
Service Pack 1 won't exactly make Vista more desirable as an OS; but it is a psychological landmark that says "we worked most of the bugs out and we're finally done with it". Businesses may bite; but I'm not 100% convinced that Vista is better than XP quite yet.
This SP full of patches still probably won't prevent people from deleting their Recycle Bin, end the UAC nazi tyranny and let admins do admin things with computers. Once MS figures-out a way to make Vista useful without all those annoyances and brick walls, then I may give it another look.
I know I'm going to -1 Flamebait hell for this; but if a Windows box has to be insecure in order to be useful, then so be it.
The game.
Version 3 is the traditional version to buy with Microsoft products. The first release is a mess, the second one is a guess at improvements (as they typically haven't received good feedback from customers by then), but the third one is typically solid and well-received.
That rule of thumb has worked well with Windows 3.0, Word 3.0, SQL 7 (which was actually the third version after Microsoft bought Sybase), and so on. Service packs are a little trickier. SP2 could be considered the third "release" of an OS. With XP, it wasn't really until SP2 that it seemed secure and stable enough.
I think your excuse was just fine, but off by a digit.
vista really chews the memory up, I hope they fix that first off..
:-p
:-p) USB memory stick and have Vista manage it as extra RAM. It's not really RAM-fast or anything (but it doesn't seem to make things worse at least), but especially seeemed to cut a bit on hard drive access. I'm not sure, but it's possible it relocates some of its swap file to it as ReadyBoost kicks in.
Here's my unofficial mini-service pack for Vista.
1. Type services.msc in the start menu search box and go there.
2. Open and set "Windows Search" to "Inactive" as its start mode and stop the service, unless you use Vista's search facilities and not a third party tool like Total Commander or Directory Opus, etc.
3. Open and disable "Superfetch" in the same way, unless you trust it to actually make things run faster and predict your usage behavior. Keep in mind that it'll keep caching data to RAM in its "prediction" process. Even data files, not just executables and DLL's. This can be especially nasty when it starts caching 100 MB-sized files you have downloaded with P2P apps because it think you'll run them soon, or something.
4. Try putting in a ReadyBoost-compatible (you probably won't know if it is until you've tried
5. If you haven't got these installed (you'll notice if it tells you they can't be installed on your OS), download and install these Vista hotfixes performance and reliability and compatibility and reliability. Among other things included is fixes to the Vista memory manager and many users have reported both cut memory usage directly after boot up, and better 3D benchmark scores. It also fixes the infamous "slow file copy" bug of Vista.
Now try use it for a day or so, and hopefully your hard drive access has been cut. As long as you don't use the Vista desktop search, no disabled services above really impact the ability of Vista to function as normal, and you can always enable them again if you notice no improvement. Something else that access your drive a lot at a few times is the System Restore feature that also runs as a service, but I don't recommend disabling that one since it'll also disable your ability to restore your OS state to an earlier date if, say, an application or driver install would go horribly wrong.
Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
To which the developers at Skype are yelling "HOPEFULLY NOT ALL AT THE EXACT SAME TIME, ASSHATS!"
An interesting nugget of info for you all, seeing as no-one has mentioned this yet....
The update will bring the Vista kernel to version 6.1. Why is this significant? It's the same kernel version that Windows Server 2008 will be. That means folks, that Microsoft, in effect have used Vista pre-SP1 as a test-bed for their Windows server platform. Servers crashing cause more panic than workstations, and take a guess slashdotters....which market-share are Microsoft champing at the bit for most? I'll give you a clue.....they already own the desktop.
The Vista strategy was "release and fix while in production" and in fairness, 6 months down the line, a lot has been fixed and Vista is shaping up to be a solid platform, but build numbers don't lie.
There, I said it.
throw new NoSignatureException();
That's because of window handles, I get the problem all the time in XP. As soon as all the window handles are used up you can no longer create any new windows, the problem is that closing windows doesn't seem to free them up and the only thing to do is reboot.
I would have thought they would have fixed this obvious problem that causes no end of grief to people where I work ages ago. Looks like I'll have to stick the X Windows.
Now, if only someone in Microsoft would realise that forms in Word have been broken since the year . and actually fix them.
thank God the internet isn't a human right.
Because the Vista SP1 simply uninstalls Vista and installs XP.
"I only speak the truth"
Karma: null(Mostly affected by an unassigned variable)
My guess is that it's 50MB for the *installer*, which then downloads the actual 1GB of service pack files from Microsoft's site.
They're lying, in other words.
Yes, the monthly updates will get most of the service pack. That's one of the two reasons that the windows update version should only be around 50 megs for a fully patched computer vs. 1 gig for the standalone install: sp1 will rollup already released patches. The other big reason is that the 1 gig version has all of the language files included. You won't download the Japanese language versions of the files from windows update if all you need is English. The 1 gig file will let admins push out just one file to client computers, during a downtime period of course, and know that everything that's needed will be installed.
Notice no mention of Vista SP1 on that page
Therefore, this page is probably being ignored by MS.
IOW: Don't hold your breath for XP SP3
Obama's legacy: (N)othing (S)ecure (A)nywhere and (T)error (S)imulation (A)dministration
I tried Windows Vista. My hardware, while not brand spanking new, is quite reasonable - Athlon X2 3800+ (socket 939) - 4 GB RAM - NVidia 6800 series And Asus says my motherboard is Vista Compatible, but my excursion into Vista failed... Miserably. First, a number of my applications did not work, or they started working and then closed. Next, I started experiencing "driver" related crashes (All my drivers are MS approved). Then, I stopped being able to manage files on my computer (copying between two hard drives at 500K/s...) I updated, I patched, I swapped components, I became frustrated, and I installed Ubuntu. For the months I had Vista, I couldn't run most of the applications I *had* to have, so it made the switch MUCH easier. Since installing Ubuntu, my computer has not crashed a single time. Their are only two things that make me miss Windows - Visual Studio 2005 (my work), and Roboform. I can use other IDE's, but they aren't quite as nice as VS2005. I can use other password managers, but they aren't as functional as Roboform. I miss nothing else from windows. For those who miss the eye candy Vista may or may not offer, depending on how much of your soul you are willing to trade, try beryl.
I rather like my machines staying out of harm's way unless I want to run my own process. I have a classical Dell NetBurst P4 running XP at work. When it's under 20% usage, it stays quiet. When some silly process jumps in, the fan kicks in, and it sounds like an airplane taking off. Then it won't notice the process went away, so the fan keeps going. It's my "Uh Oh" indicator.
I'd have a hard time with Vista randomly running processes... because I don't trust MS's judgement on what needs to be run. It's also harder to guage how heavy an app really is if you can't simply subtract new usage - old usage because the OS is running garbage processes.
My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
The "RAM is cheap" argument is quite an apologist one, and it encourages wasteful RAM usage. Ever heard of the perpetual upgrade cycle?
Yes, the OS should use RAM well. No, the OS shouldn't use too much RAM.
As you said, the memory requirements double. The problem is, each new Windows version isn't exactly worth that much more RAM. There's no other explanation than intentional bloat for all the extra RAM each successive version needs for barely any new useful features.
Remember that Vista installs every feature, including the ones you can't even access with the version of the OS you're running, onto the hard drive (this is why you can do an in-place upgrade from, say, home basic to home premium with nothing but a new license key... the features are already installed, and just need to be unlocked). So, everything from the full capabilities of ISS to Media Center to all the tablet, accessibility, and voice command software is already installed. I'm not quite saying this is a good thing - it makes Vista's install footprint vaguely absurd (over 12GB for the 32-bit edition) - but it's nice to never again need the DVD it came on.
As for the service pack being that big, remember that standalone service packs include all the prior patches as well as new fixes. Patching a fresh install of the newest edition of XP media center (either called SP or 2005, I forget, in any case based off the XP SP2 code base) requires a couple hundred megs of patches and updates. That's an OS with an install footprint only a bit over 3GB that has already received a service pack update to the point that most people considered it "ready" (FWIW, I count Vista as ready enough that I've refused to use XP since RC2, but I'm talking about the public perceptions of XP vs. Vista not my own). I'm not surprised that the standalone pack is so large. The size downloaded to the typical user's machine, which has been kept up to date in general, will probably be at worst a few hundred megs. It will be downloaded by Windows' BITS (Background Intelligent Transfer Service) service, which downloads when the connection has idle bandwidth and is quite good at handling connection loss and automatically resumes where it was left off. In other words, while the standalone may be a bitch, the general user's update shouldn't be too hard.
There's no place I could be, since I've found Serenity...
TO START
PRESS ANY KEY
Where's the 'ANY' key? I see Esk, Kitarl, and Pig-Up...