Mary Jo Foley Will Windows Service Pack History Repeat Itself?

Mary Jo Foley: One of my editors at Redmond magazine — the ever-doubting Ed Scannell — recently posed an interesting hypothetical question about the future of Windows. Might Microsoft yank some features planned for Windows 7 and put them into a Windows Vista Service Pack (SP) 2 that would include not just fixes, but also new features?

In other words: Could Windows history repeat itself, with Vista SP2 taking the form of a whole new operating system release — in everything other than name — a la Windows XP SP2?

Microsoft officials said last year not to expect Vista SP1 to be anything like XP SP2. Vista SP1 was designed to be a collection of fixes and patches, aimed at improving security, reliability and performance. But the ‘Softies haven’t said anything about their thinking in regard to Vista SP2. Might Microsoft use the next Vista SP to deliver some of the features that otherwise might have to wait for Windows 7, currently slated for 2010?

As tasty as that option might sound to some, I’d give it a very low likelihood for a few reasons.

View Full Article: Redmondmag.com

Public-sector bodies sing Windows Vista’s praises

Microsoft’s Windows Vista operating system, launched in January 2007, has received a mixed response. There is also still a strong inclination among the company’s user base to cling on to older iterations of Windows because of concerns about Vista’s CPU overhead and security.

But Microsoft has wheeled out two public-sector customers who are both upgrading to Vista and happy with the benefits.

Newham Borough Council and Tube Lines, a public-private partnership set up to maintain the infrastructure of the Jubilee, Northern and Piccadilly underground lines in London, are both part way through their respective Vista upgrades.

View Full Article: ZDNet.co.uk

Microsoft May Be Repeating Vista Mistakes with Windows 7

In the world of technology, success is linked to perceptions. Microsoft demonstrated its multi-touch technology in a Windows 7 demo at the D: All Things Digital conference this week, and the software giant may have hoped to overcome the perception that Apple owns touchscreen interfaces. Instead, some observers are wondering if Microsoft is making the same mistakes that now plague Windows Vista.

View Full Article: Yahoo News