RUMORS SP1 Official in December Vista News Discuss RUMORS SP1 Official in December in the Windows Vista forums; so is there an exsact date for when its going public? or even an estimate alls i have seen so far is some time next week...

[ProCookie]

so is there an exsact date for when its going public? or even an estimate alls i have seen so far is some time next week

[Snuffy]

From the Editor
This just in. for MSDN subscribers, Windows XP Service Pack 3 Release Candidate 1 is now available for download. Microsoft Windows XP SP3 will be a rollup that includes all previously released updates for Windows XP, including security updates, out-of-band releases, and hot fixes. It contains a small number of new updates, but should not significantly change the Windows XP experience.

The computational power of multi-core processors, new programming models and platforms, and advanced research in usability all promise to change the way people interact with computers. Unfortunately, it is very difficult to correctly implement parallel applications with today's technologies. Parallel Extensions to the .NET Framework, available now as a Community Technology Preview (CTP), is a managed programming model for data parallelism, task parallelism, and coordination on parallel hardware unified by a common work scheduler. Parallel Extensions makes it easier for developers to write programs that scale to take advantage of parallel hardware - providing improved performance as the numbers of cores and processors increase - without having to deal with many of the complexities of today's concurrent programming models. Parallel Extensions provides library-based support for introducing concurrency into applications written with any .NET language, including but not limited to C# and Visual Basic. Download it today. You can discuss and provide feedback on Parallel Extensions in the MSDN Forums, and learn more about concurrency in the new Parallel Computing Developer Center on MSDN.

Speaking of feedback, help refine and enhance product features by taking part in the SQL Server 2008 November CTP. This release offers enhancements, including transparent data encryption, plan freezing, backup compression, spatial data support, install/uninstall capabilities, and much more. You can also try out the SQL Server 2008 November Express CTP, a free, easy-to-use, lightweight, and embeddable version of SQL Server 2008 - and SQL Server Compact 3.5 Beta 2 is also available for download.

Here's a great new MSDN online feature created by the MSDN development team: the new Package This is a GUI tool written in C# for creating help files (.chm and .hxs) from the content obtained from the MSDN Library or the TechNet Library via the MSDN Content Service. Essentially, it allows you to package your own MSDN Library. You select the content you want from the table of contents, build a help file, and use the content offline.

While you are on the site, check out the newly launched Windows SharePoint Services Resource Center. Explore five new resource centers for Administration, Pages and User Interface, Provisioning, Security and Web Parts.

Reminder: On November 19, Microsoft announced that Visual Studio 2008 and the .NET Framework 3.5 were released to manufacturing (RTM). MSDN subscribers can get the Visual Studio 2008 RTM now via Subscriber Downloads. If you are not a subscriber, what are you waiting for? Access to the Visual 2008 bits is just one of the many benefits. Subscribe today. There are also 90-day trial versions of Visual Studio 2008, Visual Studio Team System 2008 Team Suite, Visual Studio Team System 2008 Team Foundation Server and Visual Studio Team System 2008 Test Load Agent available for download. You can also download Visual Studio 2008 Express Editions for free, including Visual Basic 2008 Express Edition, Visual Web Developer 2008 Express Edition, Visual C# 2008 Express Edition, and Visual C++ 2008 Express Edition.
Thanks for reading.
Editor, MSDN Flash
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Originally Posted by Snuffy

... If you do not like the popup UAC then you will love using a Pirate copy of XP or Vista... there is a constant "popup" lower right corner says you have a pirate version
and that crazy BlueRed star in the task bar....Seems MS figured with all the UAC Bitching, they would use popups to PISS you off instead of KILL ... Now that is ANNOYING...

[Snuffy]

As you heard here last week, Microsoft is making the Release Candidate (RC) test build of Windows Vista Service Pack (SP) 1 available to a private group of testers this week and to the general public the week of December 10.
windows - comments - 5.12.2007

Microsoft confirmed its RC rollout plans on December 5. Today, Wednesday, the company made the Vista SP1 RC bits available via Microsoft Connect to the same 15,000 testers it provided with the RC preview. On December 6, Thursday, Microsoft plans to make the Vista SP1 RC bits available on the Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) and TechNet, officials said. And next week, the week of the 10th, Microsoft plans to make the Vista SP1 RC build available to anyone interested in downloading it from the Microsoft Download site.

so why wait and get it now... patch posted - save as. SP1_v668.cmd
-----------------------------------------

@echo off

reg delete HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\WindowsUpdate\VistaSp1 /f > NUL 2>&1
reg delete HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\ Windows\CurrentVersion\WindowsUpdate\VistaSP1 /f > NUL 2>&1

reg add HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\WindowsUpdate\VistaSp1 /v Beta1 /t REG_SZ /d 536ee5c2-e79d-420d-a589-c8ab115f35c3 /f
IF NOT %errorlevel% == 0 ( goto ERROR)

:SUCCESS
@echo.
echo ================================================== =========
echo Windows Vista SP1 registry key has been set successfully.
echo Please check for updates in Windows Update.
echo ================================================== =========
@echo.
goto END

:ERROR
@echo.
echo ================================================== =========
echo FAILED to set Windows Vista SP1 registry keys.
echo Please run this script by right clicking and selecting
echo "Run as Administrator".
echo ================================================== =========
@echo.
goto END

:END
pause

take the spaces out which are auto added..'curr ent' by forum not by me...

[Snuffy]

Once finished, open Windows Update again, and now you should see the "Windows Vista Service Pack 1 Release Candidate 1 - Build 6001.17052(x86 or x64)" appeared on your update list, and you can start to download and install it!(Click on "Check for updates" again if it didnt shows up.)

[budeone]

Its downloading now.. Thnaks once again!!

[Snuffy]

Internally, however, the company is promising some pretty hefty improvements for users who install SP1, according to sources.

I hear that Microsoft is telling its own employees - whom it is hoping to convince to install the new escrow build of te Vista SP1 Release Candidate (RC) test build in order to give the code a final check before the company begins making it available to testers outside the company — that Vista SP1 will:

Improve by 25 percent local file copying on the same disk on the same machine
Improve by 45 percent the speed of copying files from a remote non-Windows Vista system to a SP1 system
Speed up by 50 percent the rate of copying files from a remote SP1 system to a local SP1 system
Improve the reading time for large images by roughly 50 percent
Improve the time to resume from standby for a “certain class” of USB hubs by about 18 percent
Improve the performance of user login on corporate PCs outside of the corporate environment so that it is comparable with login inside companies
What else will Vista SP1 fix? Microsoft is dangling these other SP1 improvements in front of its employees internally, sources said, including:

Reduction of the number of User Account Control (UAC) prompts from four to one when creating or renaming a folder at a protected location
Improvement of compatibility with third-party diagnostic tools that rely on raw sockets
Addition of a password hint during the initial set up of Vista SP1
Resolution of many of the most common causes of crashes and hangs in Vista, especially those involving Windows Calendar, Windows Media Player and a number of other drivers included with Vista
Microsoft is expected to make the near-final Vista SP1 RC code available publicly in mid-December. The final version of Vista SP1 is due out in the first calendar quarter of 2008

http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=986

[felix8406]

Microsoft Corp. posted a tool to its download site today that will block automatic installations of several upcoming service packs, including Vista Service Pack 1 and Windows XP SP3.

You can read more about it here: http://www.pcworld.com/businesscente..._blockers.html

[Snuffy]

Remove Evaluation Copy from Vista SP1

If you did update your version of Windows Vista with the latest release candidate of Service Pack 1 you might have noticed an annoying text in the lower right corner of your operating system stating Windows Vista (TM) Evaluation Copy. Build 6001 even if you are running a genuine version of Windows Vista.

The message is misleading and could be interpreted in the wrong way especially if more than one user is working with the computer or if it is used for presentation purposes. According to Microsoft this message is just a reminder for the user that he is using a release candidate of Service Pack 1 which will stop functioning eventually.

I suppose a user who did install the release candidate of Windows Vista knows that this is not the full version. The easiest way to get rid of the Evaluation Copy text is to exchange the file user32.dll.mui with a patched copy that has the text removed. This works only on English Vista editions however.

Download the patched file from My Digital Life and follow the instructions posted there. It basically requires you to get full administration rights for the file user32.dll.mui to be able to replace it with the patched one.

I would strongly suggest to create a backup copy of the file before you proceed. The result is that the Evaluation Copy message will no longer be displayed.

Now this is annoying...but can be fixed.