Posted on 08/30/2007 6:59:42 AM PDT by ShadowAce
SEATTLE (AP) - Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) said Wednesday it will release a major package of updates and fixes for the Windows Vista operating system in the first half of 2008.
The company said a "beta" test version of Service Pack 1 will be released "in a few weeks to a moderate sized audience." The SP1 beta includes updates Microsoft has already made to the operating system it started selling to consumers at the end of January.
The service pack fixes some common problems that cause computers to crash or freeze, Microsoft said, including compatibility problems with some newer graphics cards, external monitors and printer drivers. Microsoft said it also fixed some problems users had with putting their PCs to sleep and waking them up again.
The company said SP1 is also expected to improve battery performance, increase the speed of copying files and help Internet Explorer run faster on Vista.
The Redmond, Wash.-based software maker said SP1 also brings several security improvements.
Microsoft said it expects to release Service Pack 3 for Windows XP, Vista's predecessor, in the first half of 2008 as well, but in a statement added that it "should not significantly change the Windows XP experience."
In the past, some of Microsoft's business clients used the release of a service pack as a sign that a new operating system was stable enough to install. Analysts have said Vista seems more reliable out of the box than past versions of Windows, and that businesses need not wait for the service pack.
Have you noticed we haven't been hearing as much blathering by the microsoft drones about Linux driver and hardware issues?
Could it be that Linux is more compatible than vista, even without vendor support?
AmP
I think you need to look at the comparative pricing of Macs again, because this simply isn't true any more. (Even before Apple dropped their prices by a couple of hundred dollars.
If you're buying a gaming rig, you're not putting together a $400 bare-bones system.
There have been several posts here on FR that do a direct comparison between Apple and Dell for as identically spec'd machines as they could. The Mac was generally cheaper especially if you consider software costs on top of the hardware.
There is probably one dog somewhere who likes Chinese dogfood as well.
I have a machine with Vista Home Premium on it and I have so far been 100% satisfied and have had no issues of any kind.
Infact, so far I like it better than XP on virtually all matters.
Now you can change the above in future posts to, "Other than 1 idiot, I don't know..."
“They don’t need to improve XP, I’m happy with it as it is.”
I said this as well until I actually started to use Vista. I have several XP systems with 4GB of ram and they cannot do what Vista does with 2 Gb on a duo core processor. Vista is truly a multitasking system while at best I could smoothly run 2 apps simultaneously on XP. Anything more and the apps would start bumping into one another.
On Vista I now regularly run 6 or more applications at the same time, including intense numerical crunching routines working on extracting data from graphics files. In XP, if I ran those same number crunching routines, it froze me out of doing anything else. One machine running Vista has replaced at least 3 of my systems running XP. I would go to all Vista if I could, but I still need XP to run a couple of software apps that some companies have not upgraded yet. I am planning on buying 2 more Vista systems for my company this fall so my employees can keep up with me.
Just give the hackers time and Vista will be as virus ridden as XP. The essential problem is the software development and design approach at Microsoft that releases defective product and accepts flawed products. That is in the DNA of their thought process and is near impossible to change unless you replace the entire software team. At Apple, it is their approach to design and testing which is just far better.
It is analogous to Ford being OK with putting junk on the road but Toyota hardly ever does. With rare exception, the first release of any product is error ridden and I never buy any first release except for Apple products. They have the best design and product development and release process in the world.
There are a lot more pro-Vista comments on this thread than in previous ones. I’ll need some new computers in the next 6 months (I’ll probably end up replacing all the primary computers at my small company) and was planning to use XP Pro licenses, but it sounds like maybe I should seriously consider Vista also, especially if SP1 is released before I need to buy anything. Is there a learning curve for Vista in a small networked office environment for someone coming from XP/2K/98/95/3.1/DOS/etc.?
Okay, make it two. :-)
Your productivity will immediately go up and you will actually work on your computer instead of constantly fixing and maintaining it.
Another winner from microsatan.
LLS
wow! I'm impressed not
I'm typing this on my 2 year old linux box running Fedora Core 6 with my MP3 playing on the speakers while I transfer a full directory of stuff while running a huge system compile, two firefox and one ephiphony browser each running about 6 different tabs and FIFTEEN shells, all spread between four different virtual GUIs, of course, I could run up to seven instances of the above if needed - I often run two.
I was unaware that they'd finally come to their senses and removed the registry from windows.
As to viruses, while it doesn't as of yet seem to be a virus magnet like XP was, you can't exactly say that it's as virus-free as OSX and Linux have shown themselves to be for years.
if you run Office 2007 (which I believe you will have to if you use Vista), there is a *HUGE* learning curve for those used to Office 2003 and earlier...
$ w | wc -l
68
$ ps -ef | wc -l
223
$
...and I'm even short a few.
:-)
ROFL! I have played around with a demo Mac in a store, for about an hour. No thanks.
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