Syber News

Windows Vista SP2 will ship in April of 2009, with a release candidate issued in February, according to a Malaysian web site that successfully predicted the release dates for both Windows Vista SP1 and Windows XP SP3, earlier this year.

Microsoft released a beta of Windows Vista SP2 earlier this year.

The site, TechARP, released the following schedule for SP2:

Version	Type	Release Date
Windows Vista SP2 RC	Release Candidate	February, 2009
Windows Vista SP2	Release To Manufacturing	April, 2009
Windows Vista SP2	Release To Web	TBA

The actual release to the Web for end users is, of course, TBD. Microsoft will release the RTM package to OEMs for inclusion on their systems first. You might want to wait for a while anyway; early adopters of Vista SP1 and XP SP3 faced issues ranging from registry corruption to incompatibility with Microsoft Dynamics RMS.

Previously, Microsoft announced that (besides rolling up bug fixes since SP1), Vista SP2 will include:

• Windows Vista SP2 adds Windows Search 4.0 for faster and improved relevancy in searches.
  

• Windows Vista SP2 contains the Bluetooth 2.1 Feature Pack supporting the most recent specification for Bluetooth Technology.

• Ability to record data on to Blu-Ray media natively in Windows Vista.

• Adds Windows Connect Now (WCN) to simplify Wi-Fi Configuration.

• Windows Vista SP2 enables the exFAT file system to support UTC timestamps, which allows correct file synchronization across time zones.

This service pack will also update Windows Server 2008, and Vista SP2 will require SP1 as a prerequisite. Of course, for those who still can't find drivers for their PCs (I still can't find the proper sound driver for my XPS Gen 2), it could be a problem.