Windows Vista Service Pack 2

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Service Pack 2 for Windows Vista (SP2) has been a hot topic recently.  While Microsoft has not released an immense amount of information regarding this upcoming important update, some interesting stuff has appeared (here and here, for example).

As normal, the service pack will include all previously released updates since service pack 1 (SP1) was introduced, along with some additional new features:

  • Support for new types of Hardware and emerging standards, including Bluetooth 2.1, the ability to natively record data on Blu-Ray media, support for ICCD/CCID smart cards, and support for the new VIA 64-bit CPU
  • Wi-Fi setup and maintenance is simplified with the addition of Windows Connect Now (WCN)
  • The ex-FAT file system is enabled, supporting UTC timestamps to ensure correct file synchronization across time zones
  • Windows Search 4.0 is included, which provides users faster and more relevant results. Windows Search 4.0 also allows Group Policy integration, which provides administrative control over search parameters
  • End users should also experience improvements in resume performance when a Wi-Fi connection is no longer available

 

One important thing that you should be aware of though is that SP1 will be a prerequisite for installing SP2.  This means that it will only install on computers that already have service pack 1 installed.  This is important as it will need to be taken into account when you start planning the rollout of the update, as you might need to first deploy SP1 to the computers that don’t have it (none by now though hopefully) before being able to deploy SP2.

See this blog post for some more information.