Windows Vista Service pack 1 is finally out to manufacturing (To have it on disks), MS also released a windows vista DVD with SP1 slipstreamed in it (MS calls it embedded), and finally i have been testing it for a few days Everything running fine.

Performance

When you copy files you can see the difference (SP1 better), otherwise the differences are not so great, Sometimes the machine came out with unpleasant surprises (Speed wise).

Anti Piracy.

Some of the most common, most effective cracks still work with SP1 ! (Read More)

Installation

The installation might take an hour or more.... They really mean what they say, terribly long time to install, and if you are unlucky enough to have certain hardware, might never finish at all, not successfully at least. MS claims they will be sending out device drivers soon via Windows Update so that when the Service pack comes you will find no trouble, and since windows update DOES send your hardware profile to Microsoft, they will have a big checklist of hardware to test against (And a gut feeling saysthey will not)!

Slipstreaming / integration

Making One step forward and two steps back, now you need to rebuild the installation to get a slipstreamed windows Vista DVD, and this is why they are releasing a pre slipstreamed vista for download (DVD ISO FILE) but remember, this is for the chosen paying few.

I will provide a tutorial to show you how to do it if i find the time soon, Cheers for now.. Take care.

Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1), What's in it.

So many of you know by now that service pack 1 for windows Vista is coming soon (Codenamed Fiji), But want to know what is coming in this service pack.

Microsoft has already dispatched a CD full of updates for windows Vista (At least with my hardware they are 647MB as of 2007-09-16), I slipstream them into my Vista DVD often but when SP1 is out, i will slipstream again with the original DVD and get rid of them because they will certainly be in the service pack.

Microsoft claims that security is there focus with this service pack (From the company always focusing on security and never achieving a satisfactory level of security on there OS)

I personally think The service pack became mandatory for many reasons.

Microsoft has had a nice share of antitrust lawsuits, not that they are innocent or anything, but they have had there share, SMB, Windows media player etc.. (My Opinion here)

So let me go through what you can expect in this service pack (Also what i think you will find)

• The new Service pack will contain an attempt to avoid the antitrust case that google will be raising if Microsoft continues to deliver what google is delivering in there Desktop application (google desktop).
  The way Vista works right now is by indexing your hard drive content in a way that allows a quick search algorithm to pull that data for you when you search for it, Not only does it index file names and modification date or parameters, But it also indexes the content of those files, This functionality was most popular through Google Desktop with windows XP, although they both can co-exist (google desktop and VISTA search functionality), google filed a complaint to the Justice Department over the issue, the OS was designed in a way to make it much easier to use the Vista search capabilities.
  After installing Vista SP1, if you chose to install any other Desktop search application, Vista should route your search requests to that application, How it will deal with the (show results as you type in the start menu) is not yet known, but most probably windows will release an API for that (Application Programming Interface), and google will "after that" alter it's software to display the results there.
  But even with this change, google is not pleased, Google wants Vista search OFF, Microsoft wants to give google (and others) a share of the pie and take the explorer window to Vista's search capability, Although Microsoft's compromise looks fair, in reality this means your computer contents are going to have to be indexed twice (I can barely live with indexed once, "Your computer's idle time does not apply to me, it is almost never idle" with all the overnight tasks i give it.

• There is only room for one sidebar, Google desktop's or Vista's sidebar.... if the above, sidebar has to go too when Desktop search app installs
• The Updates that are already distributed via windows update (My 648MBs to date)
• Some (not enough) of the features that were promised and not delivered with the RTM DVD, i don't know which ones but if i were to guess 2 they would be, 1- *Windows Future Storage (WinFS) Some plugin for your beloved NTFS file system, and 2- PowerShell (Some shell scripting language like Bash in linux for example, or Dos stuff), but this one is .NET based.
• Maybe some more security updates (I don't think they will be new since MS already dispatches security updates and they will not hold any update that has to do with security till SP1 comes out)
• Some stuff to try and convince those unconvinced decision makers to switch there company's processing power to Vistas hands (Or paws), but this one is probably not going to happen, they probably have to deliver the planned ones first

I will keep you updated on whatever i can find out about this new Windows vista service pack as soon as i know more.