Esther is back with a brand new demo focusing on another cool feature in Windows Vista - Snipping Tool.  Snipping Tool is really handy for anyone who needs to capture and/or send an image of their screen, a web page or document - really any time where the visual explains more than a description. 

We've heard great things about the other videos we did (on Previous Versions, Live Icons and Instant Search), so our plan is to continue providing content like this.  Leave a comment and let us know what you think of the video, and if you have suggestions for tips and tricks we should cover in future videos!

Also, just a reminder that you can still get the Windows Vista Product Guide - a great resource on all things Windows Vista - for FREE in paperback.  All you have to do is pay for shipping.  Order your copy here!  The paperback guide doesn't include the new stuff in Windows Vista SP1, but you can download all of that information here

Today Nick announced the availability of the release candidate for Windows Vista SP1. I had a chance to get the RC build of Windows Vista SP1 installed a few days ago. I decided to roll the RC out on all of my PCs which showcase a variety of device types and scenarios:

• My Main Desktop PC running Windows Vista Ultimate x64 - check.
• My Test/Work PC running Windows Vista Business - check.
• My Dell Vostro 1500 Laptop running Windows Vista Ultimate - check.
• My Samsung Q1 UMPC running Windows Vista Home Premium - check.
• My Digital CableCard PC running Windows Vista Home Premium - check.

In installing the RC on my PCs, I did a combination of using the standalone installer and Windows Update. Before proceeding to install the SP1 RC bits, I first needed to uninstall the SP1 beta bits first. Users looking to install the Windows Vista SP1 RC will need to uninstall any previous version of SP1 prior to the installation of the RC from either Windows Update or the standalone installer. With Windows Update, once SP1 was downloaded, a new series of screens telling me about SP1 appeared. The same series of dialog screens seen in the standalone installer is now launched when installing Windows Vista SP1 via Windows Update. This will be really helpful to the user in installing Windows Vista SP1. Previously with the beta, there was no guidance from Windows Update in installing Windows Vista SP1 like there was with the standalone installer. The ability to catch issues like insufficient disk space or PC not on battery power has been implemented earlier in the installation process - with a simple more useful error message to the user. In installing Windows Vista SP1 over Windows Update, a series of pre-requisites must first be installed before SP1. For the RC, these pre-requisites presented themselves to me in proceeding to install SP1 from Windows Update. However, before the final version of Windows Vista SP1 is released, it is likely these pre-requisites will be installed prior to SP1’s release. If you have Windows Update configured for Automatic Update - it is likely these pre-requisites will be installed automatically at night.

When logging in to my PCs for the first time after installing the Windows Vista SP1 RC, the first thing I took notice of was that none of my PCs displayed a “find device driver” pop-up like I had experienced with the beta. Previously, I had a “find display driver” pop-up for my graphics driver for the PCs I had installed the SP1 beta on. In the RC - this seems to have been fixed. Many of the improvements I took note of back in September still held up, if not better, with the RC. All of my applications continue to work including:

• Sony Vegas 7
• New Zune software
• Visual Basic 2008 Expression
• Windows Live suite of applications
• Windows Live OneCare
• Smart FTP
• ImgBurn
• Yahoo! Messenger 9 Beta
• Virtual PC 2007
• Paint.NET

These are just a few of the applications I use and have tested with the Windows Vista SP1 RC. I’d also like to note that Games for Windows - LIVE games such as Shadowrun and Halo 2 for Windows Vista also continue to work as expected.

A few days ago I had blogged about my new HP MediaSmart Server and deploying Windows Home Server in my home. Those unfamiliar with Windows Home Server can learn about it here. Windows Home Server is essentially the server for the home based off Windows Server 2003 SP2 code. With my PCs running the Windows Vista SP1 RC, I’ve seen some noticeable changes in how fast it takes for PC backups to complete. Windows Home Server uses a connector to configure backups to the server which take place over the network. With the networking fixes in Windows Vista SP1, transferring files over my network has improved tremendously. Accessing file shares on my Windows Home Server is also much more responsive.  

Because of these experiences with improved network performance, I decided it was time to migrate my network to a gigabit LAN.  To do so, I picked up a D-Link DIR-655 Xtreme N Gigabit Router as well as D-Link DGS-2205 gigabit switch.

Transferring recorded TV shows to my Windows Home Server is a breeze! I continue to be impressed with my network speed and responsiveness running Windows Vista SP1.

I’d also like to call out experiences on my laptop and UMPC with some SP1 improvements. Most notably is the improvement seen with my laptop and UMPC in resuming from sleep mode. Resuming from sleep is much faster. In coming out of sleep, I can now immediately use my mobile PCs rather than having to wait through a lag until the system is usable.

I’ve spent a total of 3 days now running a complete Windows Vista SP1 environment and am very impressed with the improvements and fixes that the RC provides over the last beta.

Today we’re making available the release candidate (RC) of Windows Vista SP1 via Microsoft Connect, and tomorrow subscribers to TechNet and MDSN will have access to those RC bits too.  In addition, the RC will be available to the public next week via Microsoft’s Download Center. The release candidate phase of beta software is typically the final phase before the RTM (release-to-manufacturing) of a product and indicates that the code has attained a significant level of performance and stability.

Let me call out several changes made since the Beta release of Service Pack 1 — many of which came about as a result of direct feedback from our Beta-testing community (thank you!):

• The size of the standalone installers have decreased significantly. For example, the standalone installer packages consisting of all 36 languages (x86 and x64 chip architectures) are smaller by over 50%. The standalone installer packages consisting of just the 5 languages (again, x86 and x64) slated for initial release are more than 30% smaller in size.
• The required amount of disc space for SP1 installation has also decreased significantly. Furthermore, with the RC, if more space is required to install SP1, an error message will now display exactly how much space is needed to complete the installation.
• Previous SP1 versions left behind a directory of files that wasn’t needed after installation and occupied about 1GB of space; the RC includes automatic disk clean-up to remove this directory.
• Installation reliability has been improved based on bug reports and error codes reported from Windows Update (thanks, Beta testers!). Testing shows that these improvements have significantly increased the proportion of successful installations of the RC.
• We’ve improved the user experience of installing SP1 via Windows Update. During the Beta release, users installed without much guidance from Windows Update. The RC now contains a series of screens with detailed information on SP1.

We also have information to share with IT professionals and system administrators regarding final plans for SP1:  we’re on track to complete and release SP1 in the first quarter of 2008.  When SP1 is complete and we reach our release to manufacturing (RTM) milestone, then shortly after the standalone installer will be released to the Web in two waves.  The first wave will consist of the standalone installer (x86 and x64) for the 5 initial languages — English, French, Spanish, German and Japanese.  These languages will be deployed shortly after the RTM milestone.  The second wave will launch 8-12 weeks after the first and will consist of all remaining languages, for both chip architectures (x86 and x64).

For administrators managing Windows Vista PCs configured to use Windows Update but not wishing to deploy SP1 upon its release, we have a “blocker patch” that will prevent installation of SP1.  Information on the blocker patch can be found here starting tomorrow: http://technet.microsoft.com/windowsvista/bb927794.

If you’re not familiar with SP1, you can find more information in this whitepaper.  We built Windows Vista SP1 to address specific reliability and performance issues and also to support new types of hardware and several emerging standards.  Further, SP1 is designed to make it easier for IT administrators to deploy and manage Windows Vista.  Of course, those of you familiar with SP1 already know that some of SP1’s improvements are already available via Windows Update.

A reminder to anyone installing the SP1 RC bits: you will need to uninstall the release candidate of SP1 before you can install a later version.

Also, Windows Server 2008 RC1 was made available today for testing; find the download here: http://www.microsoft.com/ws08eval.  And, we announced two updates to the WGA program yesterday:  the first addresses two exploits to the activation process while the second adjusts how Windows differentiates between the genuine and non-genuine Windows Vista experience.  More information can be found here: http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/features/2007/dec07/12-03wga.mspx.

And last, thanks once more to our Beta testing team for their diligence and devotion, as you’ve made a big impact on this RC release!

Windows XP Service Pack 3 Release Candidate build is live. Microsoft is hammering away at the third and final service pack for Windows XP, and is making consistent headway in the matter. Truth be told, since the 2004 availability of XP SP2, and after the numerous delays of SP3 across 2006 and 2007, Service Pack 3 is long overdue. But at the same time, the refresh is getting closer and closer at a fast pace. Microsoft has in fact synchronized the development milestones of Windows Server 2008, formerly codenamed Longhorn, Windows Vista Service Pack 1 and Windows XP SP3.

The third service pack for XP was initially introduced as a Beta preview version concomitantly with Windows Vista SP1 pre-Beta in mid July 2007. Ever since that point, Vista SP1 and XP SP3 have been joined at the hip. In this regard, Vista SP1 moved into Beta stage at the end of September 2007, with XP SP3 Beta following closely behind in early October. Last week, Microsoft opened up the test driving process of Vista SP1 with a preview of the first Release Candidate to the service pack shipping to approximately 15,000 testers. (more…)

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Microsoft is well on its way to delivering the first service pack for Windows Vista. Currently, the exact availability date for Windows Vista Service Pack 1 is up in the air, Microsoft having offered only a general timetable that points to the first quarter of 2008. And with Vista SP1 intimately connected with Windows Server 2008, formerly codenamed Longhorn, at kernel level, the first service pack for latest Windows client from Microsoft is synchronized with the company’s last 32-bit server operating system. The official launch of Windows Server 2008 has been set for
February 28, next year, and Vista SP1 is bound to keep up the pace wit the server platform.

In mid July, Microsoft debuted the testing of Vista SP1 outside of Redmond. A preview of the first beta of Vista SP1 shipped to a select pool of testers at that time. (more…)

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That’s right! There is a hack available that will permit you to access, download and install the official release of Windows Vista Service Pack 1 straight from Microsoft. The first service pack for Vista was initially released in pre-beta stage in mid July 2007, concomitantly with the original preview of Windows XP Service Pack 3. Microsoft subsequently dropped another pre-beta version of Vista SP1 in August and revealed that the first fully-fledged beta for the service pack would be delivered by the end of September. And the fact of the matter is that in the last week of the past month, the beta of Windows Vista SP1 Build 6001.16659 was open to in excess of 12,000 testers.

A public beta of Windows Vista SP1 is expected sometime near the moment Microsoft will make available the first Release Candidate for the service pack, but the company has offered no timetable in this sense. The final version of Vista SP1 is currently planned for launch in the first quarter of 2008, following the release of Windows Server 2008, at the end of February. (more…)

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