Slashdot Mirror
Vista SP1 Release May Be Near
Tokonamu sends a note about the release to a private testing group of a new build of Windows Vista SP1, possibly presaging the imminent release of the long-awaited service pack. Speculation about a Feb. 15 release date has been fueled by a report out of Taiwan, according to the article. Microsoft also issued a new build of Windows XP SP3 this week, but it's getting next to no publicity out of Redmond, what with XP being the main competition for Vista and all.
I always wonder why Microsoft gets so much publicity for point version upgrades. I mean, the other day I got an update from Ubuntu. So what?
If Microsoft have waited this long for a full update, then something is seriously screwed in Redmond. Something is even more screwed with the rest of us for finding the service pack upgrade so fascinating.
XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
There was a story about the new linux kernel, and that was a point upgrade.
You also get patches/upgrades from MS outside service packs.
So this is in a way like a Linux distro that announces a new point release, which ARE reported on slashdot.
Hate vista or love it. Use it or leave it, but it is a news worthy item when it receives an upgrade. For better or worse this is going to affect a lot of people who read this site.
Oh and OSX has had nothing but point upgrades since it release back in the dark ages, each one of those point releases has been discussed to death.
I don't use vista yet, but am a PC gamer so sooner or later I might have to take the plunge, news on Vista therefor intrests me, if this SP1 is really good, it might hasten the move to Vista and make game companies more inclined to make directx10 only games. Or not, but I want to know when I should start to look into pirating Vista (Pay for MS software? What an odd concept.)
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
Speculations about SP3 breaking XP starts in 3... 2... 1...
The Wise adapts himself to the world. The Fool adapts the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the Fool.
Hey! Adding features and improving performance are non trivial tasks, mind you!
When ideas fail, words become very handy.
Despite what has been 'leaked' about Windows 7 I don't think we'll see it until 2010, when support for 2000 and XP has completely dropped (Although promptly after XP SP3 is out we probably going to see a slow fade where MS evaluate whether they are going to port their new apps (like IE8) back to XP anyway).
..thats right, Vista.
By 2010, people using XP will have no real choice but to move on, at which point they'll be looking at the then, hopefully, stable, fast reliable Vista vs the new 'bleeding edge' Windows 7 RTM. What do you think they're gonna choose?
I am running RC1 of SP1 and it has made significant improvements on my x64 laptop. One of the major fixes is the removal of occurances when Vista looks for a domain controller to update user information on a side panel of the window. That fix alone has increased the performance and useability of Vista.
For those of you looking to install RC1 be warned it takes about 2 hours to install and you must remove it prior to installing SP1.
Slashdot, not at least through posting Twitter-blogs, has informed us thoroughly how deep shit MS is in. Nobody wants their products anymore, everybody and their parents (literally) are switching to Mac or Linux (we can't really agree on which, but that doesn't matter). Vista is such a big P.O.S. and sales failure that we suspect it's not really running on any PC at all, people claiming otherwise being astroturfers. And MS are obviously well down the road to bankruptcy.
But surfing outside our informed group here, websites talk about recent fantastic record results and outlooks for Microsoft, among other things fueled by strong Windows growth. People talk about faster adoption rate and less problems with Vista than XP, over 100 million users, MS being rated as one of the most respected companies, and other shit like that.
Where are these people living, and where do they get there information from. Aren't they reading Slashdot??
If the competition for Vista is XP, there would be some incentive for microsoft to break parts of XP with service pack 3. Perhaps we should approach SP3 with caution.
That's a classic Microsoft strategy: announce a release just around the corner, so customers won't buy a competitors product. Looks like they're doing a good job choking the company who made Vista.
If Vista was any indication, Microsoft announcing that Windows 7 will be out in 16 months means that delays will push back the Windows 7 release to about 2013, at which point it will have half the initially promised feature set and require at least a 40-core processor to work properly. Meanwhile, the Linux kernel will be at version 2.6.557 and Apple will be making advertisements about people downgrading to Vista and releasing Mac OS X "Serval". Hurd will still be in development.
In Repressive Burma, it's not just your connection that dies. slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=314547&cid=20819199
The vast majority of of people walk in to Staples or Best Buy and buy a computer. That computer includes Vista. They use it.
They don't "upgrade" to Vista, they don't decide to buy a Mac, they sure don't try out Ubuntu, they use Vista because that's what came on their new laptop.
Microsoft doesn't need exponential sales of Vista, they don't need the whole world to change overnight. All that they need is to wait as millions of people eventually upgrade their systems. As long as Dell or Best Buy will sell them a laptop for $599 (compared to Apple, whose offerings start at about $1000) that's what people will buy, and Microsoft can watch the adoption continue apace. Widespread use of Vista is pretty much inevitable.
My PC is still running Windows 2000. Its fine, mostly, except for some apps that actually insist on XP. Still, I have conceded that at some point I will upgrade and have "acquired" a copy of XP from one of the usual sources. I don't need it today, but acknowledge that one day soon I'll take a day or two off and upgrade.
In fact my first experience with Vista was in the last month, helping a girlfriend set up her new HP laptop. Based on the problems that we ran into I'd be wary of encouraging people to buy Vista yet, but I also accepted that if she was buying a system that's what she would get so I was prepared for a steep learning curve. If anything Vista reminds me a lot of OS X - very pretty but very frustrating if you don't want to do exactly what Redmond or Cupertino want you to do.
Three Squirrels
I explained recently to a friend of mine, that Vista's main features are aimed at DRM, doing, that is, the job for the media companies, and not for the user.
No matter how you spin it, the code that tracks and filters the media streams in Vista, does eat resources. The MP3 playing vs. network performance crap is a consequence.
That said, I am glad you DIDN'T NOTICE any performance degradation with Vista. However, such degradation is real and it is measurable.
"The agriculture ministry is not in charge of Gundam" - Japanese ministry official.
People who don't want to cache all that shit in RAM at runtime or load it off the hard disk every time they boot?
Twinstiq, game news
Congratulations, your friend is now less informed than they were before they talked to you. Before at least they knew they didn't know.
/.
Have you even used vista? Yes there is a whole lot of extra crap in there, same as any microsoft OS release. Remember when XP came out? You are free to turn it off if you don't want it, or don't accept the performance overhead.
Myth: There no "code that tracks and filters the media streams in Vista". That is complete bollox. It was started by some asshat at auckland uni who should have known better. If you had done any research on this you'd know how comprehensively his original paper has been debunked. I'm not going to give you any links, because you probably are in denial and wouldn't check them. If you care, find them yourself.
Fact: The DRM stuff in vista affects capibilities that are new to vista. It doesn't affect anything that was already there in XP. Nothing you already have is crippled. I have been using vista for a year now, and it seriously pissed me off at the start. I turned off a lot of the new vista features, like aero and readyboost. Now I've got used to the changes, I don't mind vista at all, there is some very good new stuff there. And not once have I ever had a problem with any "DRM". Stuff like DVD Decrypter, AnyDVD, BitTorrent, Daemon Tools all work 100%. Truth is I could count on one hand the number of apps that I use that have had compatibility problems. The most serious I can think of is AirSnort.
Seriously, stop spreading this FUD. It does the whole IT community no good. You are an assclown for perpetuating myths like this to non-it people, and you are showing your ignorance by parroting this stuff on a place like
Huh? What about the technical downsides? Flaws, security holes, performance? Because we all know IE has had hundreds of security issues, and Quicktime has had none, oh, wait... Then again, this is Apple, and Apple can do no wrong.
So if I choose not to use IE I am still vulnerable to IE flaws, because other apps can still invoke IE library calls, etc. Right, gotcha. If I choose not to use QT, I have "none of those problems" because, apparently, through the power of telepathy, any other application that might use QT library calls, from Final Cut Pro to After Effects (I seem to recall AE being borked by changes in QT just last week), knows that I've "chosen not to use QT" and its associated library calls, ergo Microsoft is horrible and evil and represents all that is soulless in the world, whilst Apple's genius never ceases to amaze us.
Do you actually believe what you wrote? Because if you were to re-read it, reversing the words QT and IE, or substituting third party libraries, would you still believe it?
Apparently, according to you, you're vulnerable because IE libraries and hooks are used throughout the system - sure, like the help system, etc. Which is why many MS security patches note that "this flaw can still affect you even if you do not use Internet Explorer", and yet Quicktime flaws, well, you don't need to update and fix them, you just "choose not to use them" and magically every other application and OS call on your system is protected?
The RDF field is strong in this one.