back to: Articles Archive
Did Microsoft Fix Vista?
By Dale Walls
Needless to say, on first release Microsoft’s latest client operating system (OS), Windows Vista, wasn’t for the masses. Most early adopters found the new software to be performance intensive, change in interface to be hard to navigate, and countless software and hardware compatibility issues. With its Service Pack 1 (SP1) for Windows Vista, Microsoft hopes to win back the crowd and resolve many issues users have had with Vista.
First off: How did they know? It’s interesting to realize how Microsoft got most of the feedback necessary to develop updates and fixes for Vista. Some of you may be familiar with the Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP) and Windows Error Reporting included in Vista. This is an opt-in service that anonymously reports issues and feedback of customers to Microsoft. The Customer Experience Improvement Program can be turned on and off on most all of Microsoft’s latest products.
With SP1, Microsoft aims to correct many reliability, performance, and most importantly compatibility issues. Microsoft reports that at launch there were 13,000 supported components and devices for Vista available via Windows Update. Today there are more than 54,000 of these components and devices supported.
Reliability issues with wireless, laptop power management, and battery life have been improved. File system performance of Windows Explorer have experienced improvements in upwards of 25 to 50 percent faster for tasks such as file copy. Some users have experienced extreme delay in network browsing on Vista that have now been corrected in SP1. A notorious 10-second delay when pressing CTRL-ALT-DELETE at the logon screen has also been correctly. Overall performance is said to be improved just by reducing glitches.
This is just but a short list of the total list of improvements delivered via Vista SP1. More can be found online at Microsoft’s web site www.microsoft.com.
This Vista update is going to provide a laundry list of low-level desirables in addition to the existing collection of security patches and updates. Mind you that this is no small package. Installer file size for Vista is estimated to be around 2.5GB.
Delivery of the update will be available for download directly from Microsoft’s Download center or distributed automatically via Windows Update. As with the release of Windows XP’s Service Pack 2, users wishing to prevent automated install of Vista SP1 can download and install the Windows Service Pack Blocker Tool Kit, again available via Microsoft’s web site.
Hopefully for Microsoft, Vista SP1 puts much of the fires related to the OS to rest. Compatibility has continuously improved since its initial release. Many applications have caught up allowing users to take in Vista with little issue. This update should continue to improve adoption rates.
In other update news, Office 2007 Service Pack 1 is now available for download. Additionally, for those of you holding on to Windows XP systems, Service Pack 3 for that operating system is due soon as well. Look out for these patches and more.
Dale Walls is President of Corsica Technologies, a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner & Small Business providing complete IT Solutions for businesses, government, and home computing in Maryland, DC, and Virginia. Feel free to contact Dale at 443.262.9290, or by email at dale@corsicatech.com.
