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Oh, and ... SP2 for Windows Vista and Server 2008 are on MSDN, TechNet too

I somehow missed this in the flurry of activity this week, but Service Pack 2 for Windows Vista and Server 2008 is now available on MSDN and TechNet, ahead of the "sometime in May" date that Microsoft previously promised. (It arrived April 30 for the pedantic.) Inconveniently, there's only a single version of the SP2 installer, and because its for x86, x64, and (yes, seriously) IA64 (i.e. Itanium) it's kind of huge. Presumably, we'll see different versions of this over time, including those that have been slipstreamed into both Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008.

The download servers seem a bit quicker today too, which should help.

Comments

 

Dr. Tone said:

I'm impressed with SP2, my machines are much snappier and smoother.

May 1, 2009 1:52 PM
 

johnbaxter said:

Both Itanium users should be happy.  (And yes, just as there are more than a dozen Zune users--including me--there are more than two Itanium users--not including me.)

Looking forward to the public unveiling of Vista SP2, particularly with Dr. Tone's endorsement above.

May 1, 2009 2:34 PM
 

dtatgenho said:

Yeah, this download is strange.  Its one large ISO for all of the things Paul mentioned.  However, the contents of the ISO are as follows:

autorun.inf

setup.exe

Windows6.0-KB948465-IA64.exe

Windows6.0-KB948465-X64.exe

Windows6.0-KB948465-X86.exe

So, its an ISO that contains just the standalone installers?  Why not just post the standalone EXEs to MSDN/Technet?

Strange forcing someone to download such a large ISO when they may only need the x86 and/or the x64 EXEs.

May 1, 2009 3:01 PM
 

Najlepsze Programy, Recenzje, Informacje. » Blog Archive » Oh, and … SP2 for Windows Vista and Server 2008 are on MSDN … said:

Pingback from  Najlepsze Programy, Recenzje, Informacje.  » Blog Archive   » Oh, and … SP2 for Windows Vista and Server 2008 are on MSDN …

May 1, 2009 3:19 PM
 

kenmcnamee said:

Dr. Tone: "I'm impressed with SP2, my machines are much snappier and smoother."

You should bypass Vista SP2 and go right to SP3, aka Windows 7.

May 1, 2009 3:42 PM
 

bettieblu said:

SP2 Vista is supposed to be the base code for 7, under the hood, driver model, they way it handles older software etc.  Its missing features that 7 has, but not all the new wireless wizard is in it.

May 1, 2009 3:51 PM
 

Oh, and … SP2 for Windows Vista and Server 2008 are on MSDN … | Windows (7) Affinity said:

Pingback from  Oh, and … SP2 for Windows Vista and Server 2008 are on MSDN … | Windows (7) Affinity

May 1, 2009 3:55 PM
 

Waethorn said:

"SP2 Vista is supposed to be the base code for 7, under the hood, driver model"

Does Vista SP2 include WDDM 1.1 support?

I would bet not since Vista SP2 isn't supposed to include DirectX11.

May 1, 2009 4:28 PM
 

Dr. Tone said:

Windows 7 RC isn't running as well as Vista SP2 on my laptop unfortunately.  Driver related.

To be honest SP2 has stolen some of 7s thunder on me.

May 1, 2009 4:46 PM
 

Lindy said:

www.joystiq.com/.../directx-11-detailed-vista-and-dx-10-10-1-hardware-supported

www.pctipsbox.com/directx-11-for-windows-7-and-vista-sp1

You must be slipping Wae?

I would not say SP2 and 7 are line for line, but dam Microsoft has said that "if it wont run on Vista it wont run on 7" .  Also the fact that in all of my testing for 7 I use Vista drivers when in doubt and its always worked.  Just like drivers for  2000 worked on XP.  SSDD

May 1, 2009 4:54 PM
 

Waethorn said:

@Lindy:

DX11 will run on DX9/10/10.1 hardware but that doesn't mean you get advanced functionality.  What it means is that developers don't have to reprogram a completely different rendering pipeline just because they want to support older hardware.

DX11 is not included in Vista SP2.  Neither is WDDM 1.1.

Why do you think graphics card makers have separate drivers specifically for Windows 7 when they could've used the WHQL-certified Windows Vista ones?

May 1, 2009 5:32 PM
 

DRWAM said:

So what's the benefit of SP2 for Vista?

May 1, 2009 7:08 PM
 

DRWAM said:

Mac Pro likes Win7 too:

Windows 7 Ultimate on Nehalem Mac Pro: Apple's most powerful Mac rides high on the Windows Experience Index

www.infoworld.com/.../windows-7-ultimate-nehalem-mac-pro-018

May 1, 2009 7:12 PM
 

chuckb84 said:

"Mac Pro likes Win7 too"

It ran fine under VMWare on my Macbook Pro as well.

May 1, 2009 8:06 PM
 

subzerohitman721 said:

I won't even bother with Service Pack 2 and will just move my notebook directly to Windows 7 RC candidate. At this point, Vista has been rendered moot after the very stellar Windows 7 beta. Since 7057 is so much better than the beta was, everything I've read says and indicates that 7100 is pretty much ready for prime time. I also want to see how Windows 7 handles on a single core 64 bit mobile processor. Since I have a backup Vista image on my desktop's second desktop, I can always take from there if I absolutely need Vista. Or I can just buy a second notebook drive and keep Vista on the original as a backup.

I'm pretty much ready to kiss Vista goodbye. I'm getting so much more bang for the buck with Windows 7 than holding on to Vista. Either way, I think people should be moving on from Vista as soon as possible.

May 1, 2009 9:21 PM
 

Lindy said:

HP is plunking down some cash for those ads.

May 1, 2009 11:53 PM
 

DRWAM said:

I may just buy the wife a Win 7 laptop when they arrive, The kids may get confused, but I can test them on the new laptop, then try upgrading the older hardware to 7. Remember this, I'm the guy that usually never upgrades, Mac or Windows!

May 2, 2009 7:36 AM
 

shark47 said:

"So what's the benefit of SP2 for Vista?"

What ever it is, I don't think it's enough to keep me from moving to Windows 7. I'm waiting for RC to see if they've fixed some of the problems I had.

May 2, 2009 9:21 AM
 

pthurrott said:

I wrote up an article about Windows Vista/Server 2008 SP2 here:

www.winsupersite.com/.../sp2_rc.asp

May 2, 2009 9:39 AM
 

DRWAM said:

Thanks Paul. It's time to give it a try.

May 2, 2009 12:41 PM
 

slimshadey said:

So far the RC is pretty nice.  I installed in on a white box Intel mobo/intel CPU and it runs good.  I have 4gigs of RAM though.

Playing around the video settings (with nothing but Windows installed) Classic sits at 688meg used.  If I turn on Aero and pick the ocean theme 790meg used.  Quite a hit for Aero, but its good to know that I save about 100megs of RAM with classic as it will help out moving to 7 on VDI at work.

May 2, 2009 1:14 PM
 

Unexpected » Blog Archive » Vista / W2K8 – Service Pack 2 said:

Pingback from  Unexpected  » Blog Archive   » Vista / W2K8 – Service Pack 2

July 27, 2009 5:35 PM
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