Now that Windows Vista SP1 has been out for a few months, there's no particularly good reason that you should be running an early release candidate of the service pack. But if you're too lazy to have uninstalled it, you've got about two weeks before Microsoft forces you to do so.

Starting June 30th, any machines running a release candidate of Windows Vista SP1 will only be able to run for about an hour at a time. Basically, you boot your system, it runs normally for an hour, and then the kernel shuts down and you get a message that says END_OF_NT_EVALUATION_PERIOD. At least it's fairly easy to understand.

But wait! Didn't Microsoft push Windows Vista SP1 final out through automatic updates? Well, yes, it did. But you can only install Windows SP1 if you've first rolled back any release candidates of the service pack. So if you haven't done that yet, there's no time like the present.

[via Flexbeta]

Experts such as Brian Livingston, editorial director of the Windows Secrets newsletter, say Microsoft is intentionally allowing a loop-hole to exist, which enables more advanced users of Microsoft's operating systems to upgrade to Vista SP1 without having the necessary previous versions of Windows.

The loop-hole exists in the Vista SP1 Upgrade Edition, which requires a previous install of Windows 2000, XP, or Vista but the upgrade edition will install even if they're absent. The Vista SP1 Upgrade Edition retails for about $110 less than the full version of Vista SP1, which means users can save money on upgrading to Vista by purchasing the cheaper upgrade box.

Livingston believes Microsoft supports the hole since the upgrade edition installs over itself in Vista SP1. Although it may seem absurd at first, Microsoft may benefit from such software pirates -- if they can be called that anymore.

The theory behind this is already at play and has been at play for many years. As more and more users install some version of Windows, others will see it as "the standard", and then they will buy it -- or they'll pirate it and indirectly influence others to buy it.

No more betas, release candidates, or other test builds for Windows Vista SP1. Microsoft is pushing the final version of Windows Vista Service Pack 1 out the door. You can download standalone installers for X86 and X64 systems from Microsoft starting today.

Microsoft has also released a series of documents detailing the changes in Service Pack 1. But we'll save you the trouble. For the most part, you won't notice any major differences. Service Pack 1 looks and operates a lot like the original version of Windows Vista. Almost all of the tweaks are under the hood, and what you will hopefully notice is that your computer is more reliable (meaning it crashes less often) and works better with all of your peripheral hardware devices and third party software. Microsoft also snuck a bunch of security updates in as well.

The standalone installers weigh in at 450 to 550MB, depending on how many languages are included in the version you download. If you upgrade using Windows Update, you'll only have to download about 65MB.

If you're running a pre-release version of Windows Vista SP1, you'll need to uninstall it before installing the newest version. In fact, if you're running Vista SP1 RC, you won't even see Vista SP1 in Windows Update until you uninstall your release candidate and then check for new updates, install the prerequisites, and reboot a few times.

There've been a thousand and one ways to get your hands on Windows Vista SP1 or various beta versions over the past few months. But Microsoft is set to post the manual installer for Vista SP1 on March 18. If you're not in a hurry, you can wait until April when the update will be available through the Windows Update service.

In other news, Microsoft has confirmed that Vista's successor, which goes by the clever codename of Windows 7, is on track for a 2010 release. We've heard a lot of dates over the last few months, ranging from 2009 to 2011. But Microsoft has consistently said Windows 7 was part of a 3 year cycle. They just didn't really make it clear when the 3 years started. Apparently the answer is, 3 years from the time Windows Vista shipped to consumers. Not the date when Vista development began, or 3 years from the date it was shipped to manufacturers.

Does that mean we'll see a public launch of Windows 7 in January of 2010? Eh, maybe. On the one hand, a lot can happen in two years. On the other hand, when you're trying to retool an operating system as widely used as Windows, you want to spend as much time as it takes getting things right, otherwise you wind up with... Windows ME. What, you thought we were going to make a dig at Vista? How little you know us.

[via Engadget]

Can't wait to get you grubby little paws on the official version of Windows Vista SP1? Microsoft isn't expected to officially release the update to end users until March. But Microsoft has already posted a disc image on its OEM partner site, and if you know where to look you can download it today.

The disc image weighs in at 1.2GB and must be used to perform a clean install of Windows Vista SP1. In other words, you cannot use it to update your system and retain your files and settings. We'd recommend waiting until Microsoft pushes SP1 out through Windows Update if you're not ready to do a clean install.

Microsoft's servers are being hammered at the moment from people attempting to download SP1, so don't expect a speedy download. In fact, if you start downloading today you might not have the full disc image until March anyway.

[via WinBeta]

Microsoft has a long history of including cumbersome anti-piracy measures in its software. So we were pretty happy to hear that the company is scaling back the Windows Genuine Advantage protection Windows Vista SP1. No longer will you find features like ReadyBoost of Aero disabled if you haven't activated Windows or if you fail a WGA test when trying to download Microsoft software.

But that doesn't mean WGA is gone. ZDNet reports that the new WGA may be less forceful, but it could be almost as annoying. Instead of logging you off or disabling services, Windows Vista SP1 will present you with a nag screen every time you logon. It will also show a pop up window periodically asking you to validate Windows. And once an hour it will change your desktop background to black. You can change it to something else, but since it'll just reset in an hour, you're probably best off learning to love a black background.

Or, you know, you could just validate your copy of Windows.

Microsoft has released Windows Vista SP1 to manufacturers. What does that mean? While public release candidates of SP1 have been available for months, you'll actually be able to walk into a store and buy a computer running the updated version of Windows Vista pretty soon.

Microsoft is also beginning to manufacture Windows Vista installation DVDs with Windows Vista SP1, which means you'll be able to pick up a licensed copy of the software at stores within the next few months as well. In mid-March, Microsoft will make SP1 available as an optional download through the Windows Update service. In mid-April, Windows users who are signed up for automatic updates will start to receive it.

The company has identified some device drivers that are still incompatible with SP1, and promises not to push out the update to computers running those drivers. Overall, Windows Vista SP1 is designed to improve compatibility with hardware and software, and improve system reliability. Users shouldn't expect a huge performance boost, but if you've been having problems running Vista properly on your system, SP1 may be able to help.

Release candidates of Windows Vista Service Pack 1 have been available for a couple of months. But if you've been holding off on updating your Vista system until SP1 gets the official Microsoft seal of approval, it looks like you may not have to wait much longer.

There's a rumor going around that Microsoft is set to release Vista SP1 on February 15th. This shouldn't come as a huge shock. Microsoft had already said that the operating system update was on track for a Q1 2008 release. That said, we always take software release dates with a bucket of salt.

SP1 adds some stability, bug fixes, and hardware compatibility features to Windows Vista. Users shouldn't expect too many new features, as that was never the goal for this update. Microsoft, of course, is neither confirming nor denying that the service pack will be ready for release on February 15th.

Microsoft has released an updated release candidate of Windows Vista SP1 to about 15,000 beta testers. It's not entirely clear at the moment what changes are included in this update, but the release does show that we can expect at least a few more tweaks before Microsoft releases the final version of Windows Vista Service Pack 1.

Microsoft pushed out a public release candidate of SP1 last month. Unfortunately downloading and installing that version does not make you a member of Microsoft's inner circle, which means that you won't necessarily be able to download the new version through Windows Update or from Microsoft's password-protected download page.

On the other hand, some members of the Neowin forum have posted what may be a direct download link. This probably goes without saying, but download at your own risk.

[via gHacks]

As expected, Microsoft has made the release candidate of Windows Vista SP1 available to the general public. There are several ways to get grab the update. You can download a registry key that will allow you to install SP1 through Windows Update. Or you can just download a standalone installer. Depending on your needs, that file will be between 436MB and 878MB. (There are four versions of the standalone installer, two for x86 systems, and two for x64 systems).

You're probably better off going through Windows Update, as Vista will just install the packages that you need. But you may have to check for updates and reboot several times before you actually get SP1.

We're still test driving our copy of Vista SP1 RC, but we've been hearing so much about this update over the last few months that we almost feel like the magic wore off before it was even released. While there are a ton of bug fixes, reliability, and compatibility enhancements in Windows Vista SP1, users shouldn't expect a major performance boost.

Bear in mind, this is a release candidate, not a final release. That means Microsoft could still make some changes before pushing Service Pack 1 out to all customers early next year. It also means that if you don't want to be a glorified beta tester (we know, a release candidate is more stable than a beta, but no one ever talks about "release candidate testers") you might want to hold off on downloading SP1 RC. For a little while at least.

With the public release of the first release candidate for Windows Vista Service Pack 1 scheduled for this week, Microsoft is making a ton of documentation available explaining the ins and outs of the service pack.

In a nutshell, the update packs a ton of hardware compatibility, system reliability, performance and power consumption, and security improvements. The standalone installer will be 450MB, but if you download Service Pack 1 through Windows Update, it will probably only take up about 65MB. That's because you may have already downloaded many of the hotfixes, security updates and other features included in Service Pack 1.

Reading through the whole list of updates will probably make your eyes bleed, but here are a handful of features we're excited about:

• Adds support for Direct3D® 10.1, an update to Direct3D 10 that extends the API to support new hardware features.
• SP1 addresses issues many of the most common causes of crashes and hangs in Windows Vista, as reported by Windows Error Reporting. These include issues relating to Windows Calendar, Windows Media Player, and a number of drivers included with Windows Vista.
• Adds support for exFAT, a new file system supporting larger overall capacity and larger files, which will be used in Flash memory storage and consumer devices.
• Enhances support for high density drives by adding new icons and labels that will identify HD-DVD and Blu-ray Drives as high density drives.
• Improves power consumption and battery life.
  
• Improves the speed of adding and extracting files to and from a compressed (zipped) folder.
• Improves the speed of copying files, folders, and other media.
• Improves startup and resume times when using ReadyBoost.
• Users can control which volumes the disk defragmenter runs on.

[via iStartedSomething]

It looks like our wish of a Vista SP1 release before Christmas may in fact be coming true. Microsoft's Windows Vista Blog announced that the Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) release candidate (RC) is now available via Microsoft Connect and will be available to MSDN and TechNet subscribers tomorrow. Even better, this release will be made available to the public next week via Microsoft's Download Center. Microsoft is still aiming at an early 2008 release (and the blog says they are on-track), but depending on the feedback fro the RC public release, we think we might see the final version out even faster.

As the blog states, a release candidate is typically the last phase in beta development before a product goes RTM (release-to-manufacturing), or "gold." Some of the biggest changes with the RC, as compared with previous betas, are the reduction of both the installer size and the amount of diskspace required for the installer. Additionally, the RC will automatically clean-up any directories left behind from previous SP1 betas, which in the past left up to 1 GB of data, even after being uninstalled. They have also improved SP1's integration with Windows Update. Microsoft has also provided an patch for IT Admins who may want to prevent users from installing any SP1 release before the final shipping version via Windows Update.

Please note, if you do install the RC update early, you will need to uninstall it before updating to the final SP1 release.

According to ZDNet, Microsoft could release Office 2007 SP1 the week of December 10. ZDNet's Mary Jo Foley cites sources claiming familiarity with Microsoft's release window. Microsoft's previous official statements leaned towards an early 2008 release, making this an early Christmas (or late Hanukkah) present for users.

Last week, the SharePoint Server 2007 team blog suggested that SP1 was ready, leaving some to speculate an early release. A clarifying blog post re-stated the early-2008 release plan, adding that the product could be released anytime between now and Q1 2008.

So hedging release date issues aside what will be new in Office 2007 SP1? Well, although the beta has been unusually secretive (something we can attest), the SharePoint blog post and this post (also from ZDNet) give us some ideas.

In addition to the usual bug fixes and compatibility issues, WSS (Windows SharePoint Services) and Office SharePoint Server 2007 SP1 are reported to include AJAX support and new STSAdm commands. Looking at the list of SharePoint Server SP1 hotfixes, it looks like some of the bugs in Outlook/Exchange server, for example, the delayed event timers due to DST, have also been fixed.

Hopefully, these rumors are true, and Office 2007 SP1 will be out before the end of the year. As we mentioned in episode 3 of the Squadcast, we think it is in Microsoft's best interest to get the SP1 product updates (across the board) out sooner rather than later, as their release can only spur companies to upgrade their office suites, which like Vista, have lagged in comparison to prior releases. Furthermore, meeting or even beating an estimated release date can create an enormous amount of customer goodwill, especially since Microsoft is notorious for being late to the party, and not early.

Weren't able to make it up to Redmond Washington in October for Microsoft's first Windows Vista SP1 install fair? No problem, Microsoft's holding another one, this time at the company's Silicon Valley campus in Mountain View, CA.

Yeah, it's not exactly Des Moines or Wichita, so if you're not on the west coast, good luck checking out the updated version of Vista. But if you're wondering whether installing beta software will make your PC more stable, and you happen to live in northern California, why not stop by?

The install fair is scheduled for December 8-9, from 9am to 4pm. You'll need to register in advance, and you'll need to make sure your PC is already running Vista and meets Microsoft's minimum requirements. You'll also get a free copy of MS Office 2007 for playing guinea pig.