More TechEd Vista SP1 typos

TechEd BarcelonaIt looks like Microsoft Australia aren’t the only ones with a “Windows Vista SP1” typo on their TechEd website. This time around two upcoming TechEd events in Barcelona – TechEd IT Forum and TechEd Developers – both inherit the same ‘typo’ that was on TechEd Australia’s website before being removed earlier last week. Coincidence? I think not.

TechEd Barcelona Windows Vista SP1

Comparing the content on the pages above with TechEd Australia, it is obvious there’s a lot of similarity between all of the regional TechEd events – the topics they cover along with the abstract description. My guess is that the mothership (Redmond) decides exactly what topics are and are not to be covered across the entire TechEd family in a particular timeframe, and it is up to each individual region to add flair and value to the content. If that’s the case, then at some point in time, at least one person was confident enough to include Vista SP1 in the list of topic – under the assumption it had to be available in some form to discuss.

Why are they retracting that statement now? What happened between writing this abstract and now is causing them to exclude SP1 from the list? Certainly there’s no better event to showcase Vista SP1 if indeed it is ready – this is just about the last major Microsoft event before the new year and the audience is largely IT decision makers and administrators. Makes me wonder if they are hiding it on purpose. Personally I’m still hopeful someone will mention SP1 at TechEd Australia in 2 weeks time. *wink wink* *nudge nudge*

20 insightful thoughts

  1. Pingback: Wictor Wilen
  2. Uh, its just a Service Pack, and that is what Microsoft wants to get across to IT Admins and Decision makers. Its not Christ second coming as some are speculating it might be. The only thing major in it I am aware of is the kernel update which is more important to Microsoft than it is to the customer/end user.

    Its pretty simple, Microsoft does not want Vista’s success to be determined by a Service Pack. Those days are over, it just does not matter anymore. Look back at the Win 9x days, were there Service Packs for Windows 95, 98? I don’t consider OSR2, OSR2.1 SPs either. The point is the consumer line was not plagued by this intrigue and dependency and I believe with Vista, Microsoft is bringing back that approach to maintaining Windows where the reliance on SPs are jut not necessary as they use to be. With tools like Windows Update, WSUS for the Enterprise and System Center, the Service Pack is not the priority it once was. NT 4 is dead people, wake up!

    Device driver updates, security patches, fixes, even non-Windows products in Microsoft’s software portfolio are receiving updates through Windows Update (i.e. Office, Windows Live) . It just does not get any better than that. Part of the wait for SP fear I believe is also driven by what happened with Windows XP SP2 and the changes it made to the kernel that required certain third party IHVs and ISVs to update their products to better support the security changes. But the point is, something like that won’t happen again with Vista.

  3. Quote:
    NOTE: This download is not intended for use on computers running Microsoft Windows 95 A, B, or C or Microsoft Windows 98. To determine if you are running Windows 95 A or later, click Start, point to Settings, click Control Panel, then double-click System. If the version number reported is 4.00.950 A or later, do not install this update. Your system already contains the appropriate fix. For additional information about how to determine what version of Windows you have installed, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:”

    Its more of a collection of essential updates for the “initial” release of Windows 95. Remember, when Windows 95 was first released, it came on Floppies, certain functionality and features of the OS was missing, requiring this collection of fixes. I will admit, I was incorrect about no SP, but then again, that was a necessity in certain cases. It upgraded to the OS from 4.00.950 to 4.00.950a. SP1 for Vista is not a necessity to start deploying the OS or hold off on it. Again, times have changed and even then, people still upgraded to 95 before this SP became available.

  4. “SP1 for Vista is not a necessity to start deploying the OS or hold off on it”

    SP1 is not a necessity to YOU. It is a necessity for some.

    I simply do not understand how people can spout off about something like they are an expert when there are millions of computers in the world…..WAKE UP PEOPLE! Computers are not just about your own personal usage.

  5. The big thing with holding off for SP1 is not that the specific fixes in the update are going to be the second coming or anything– they never have been (XP’s big update wasn’t even SP1, it was SP2). The reason people want to wait until SP1 is that the operating system has had more time to mature– more time for bugfixes (most of which, by SP1, will already be on systems via Windows Update) and more time for vendors to get their appications, devices, and device drivers ready for Vista.

    I’m holding off on Vista until SP1 myself– I’m sure that Vista itself would be usable right now, but I’m holding off so that I’ll know all the kinks are worked out with the software I use day-to-day.

  6. One point that people are missing is, Vista continues to be developed thru the Server 2008 Beta. When bugs show up in Vista, the fix can be made and tested in Server 2008. Each new build of Server 2008 also contains an update to Vista SP1. In the June CTP of Server 2008 the SP1 version is 222. When Server 2008 and Vista SP1 go RTM, the code base will be the same for both. There will be one for 32 bit and one for 64 bit.

  7. “Computers are not just about your own personal usage”

    Heh, lame, its called a “Personal Computer” no matter which setting its used in, home or office. As John said, SP2 was a big update and it has somehow generated some fear since its release when it comes future Windows release, but it was an exception and was designed to make foundational changes to the kernel to provide a more secure OS. SP2 is what XP RTM should have been in the first place.

    XP was not fully built with security at the core, Vista is. SP1 for XP did add functions to the OS that were needed such as support for hard disk above 137 GB and Bluetooth support. But Vista is not in the same situation, it is just as functional now as it will be when SP1 is released for it. The functions added to XP did not hinder users from deploying the operating system at RTM, they were not major kernel changes, not compatibility issues. Its a similar case with Vista.

    I ran Windows 2000 Pro for year before I installed the first Service Pack and I was not hindered in anyway. The vast majority of consumers do not need to bow to SP1 move to Vista if they want to now. 2 Million devices are supported under Vista, 2,000 applications.

  8. Andre Da Costa said: “Heh, lame, its called a “Personal Computer” no matter which setting its used in, home or office.”

    While I agree Vista is “just as functional now as it will be when SP1 is released for it.” Deployment of a new operating system, for something as big as Vista, at a company, especially a public company, represents risks. Could it bring the whole system down? What’s the downtime of productivity? Could it take longer to deploy than expected? Will our existing software fail to operate correctly? Could out staff cope with it? Will we lose business and sales as a result of that? These risks are held accountable by managers and ultimately the Board of Directors. And guess who they are accountable to? Shareholders and SEC! Guess what will happen if the boss installs Vista on all the machines as soon as it came out just because he thought it would make the company look “cool”? That’s a lawsuit waiting to happen! And let us not get into the details of the cost of maintaining compatibility, retraining staff, reducing resistance to change, etc.

    Businesses ultimately, have a different set of mindset as to what and when to deploy new software. Remember… businesses don’t just jump ship to a new OS just for the sake of newness… an OS for them is to RUN a business… not to play Crysis…

  9. I am not saying you must jump on the Vista boat without some testing and research first. Even I had to do that and only 5 out of the 15 machines where I work are running Vista. Some apps like Peach Tree and Quickbooks are not working with the OS, so we prefer to wait a little before rolling it out across the the entire network.

    But, if the apps become fully compatible, Vista will be a top priority, but the point remains, we are not going wait until SP1 to make a decision to deploy when the tools are ready.

    As note in my Vista FAQs on my blog:
    Is it recommended I use Windows Vista in a production environment?

    You sure can, Microsoft has designated Vista as final and ready for PC consumption. Of course not all persons or businesses will immediately install or upgrade to Vista. “Some will take the wait and see approach before biting the bullet. Some cases might either require more testing or simply compatibility issues that will prevent them from upgrading right away.”

    http://adacosta.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!E8E5CC039D51E3DB!9709.entry

    But the point is, that should not be determined by a Service Pack.

  10. Want now sp1 typos?

    From the DirectX SDK aug2007:

    “Direct3D 10.1 Tech Preview

    Direct3D 10.1 is an incremental, side-by-side update to Direct3D 10.0 that provides a series of new rendering features that will be available in an upcoming generation of graphics hardware.

    TextureCube Arrays which are dynamically indexable in shader code.
    An updated shader model (shader model 4.1).
    The ability to select the MSAA sample pattern for a resource from a palette of patterns, and retrieve the corresponding sample positions.
    The ability to render to block-compressed textures.
    More flexibility with respect to copying of resources.
    Support for blending on all unorm and snorm formats.
    This tech preview provides an early look at these features and the handful of new APIs that support them. The August 2007 Direct3D 10.1 Tech Preview requires the Windows Vista SP1 Beta which will be available to MSDN subscribers once it is publicly released.”

    Source: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=529f03be-1339-48c4-bd5a-8506e5acf571&DisplayLang=en

  11. There would be no point in releasing the August 2007 Direct3D 10.1 Tech Preview unless the Vista SP1 Beta is also released soon because you can’t use the one without the other.

Comments are closed.