Vista SP1 beta 1 to launch in mid-July

Beta 1 of Vista SP1 in the week of July 16, according to several sources at Microsoft. The final version of Vista SP1 is expected to be realeased in November 2007.

If Microsoft releases Vista SP1 in November, it will only have been in beta for an unusually short time. In the past, Microsoft Windows service packs could be in beta for a year or longer.

 

Microsoft is expected to emphasize that SP1 is more about fixes than new features. Most of the elements of SP1 are expected to enhance or supplement features that are already part of Vista, sources said.

In addition to desktop-search modifications, here’s a list of other expected fixes:

• Performance tweaks lessening the amount of time it takes to copy files and shut down Vista machines
• Improved transfer performance and decreased CPU utilization via support for SD Advanced Direct Memory Access (DMA)
• Support for ExFat, the Windows file format for flash memory storage and other consumer devices
• Improvements to BitLocker Drive Encryption to allow not just encryption of the whole Vista volume, but also locally created data volumes
• The ability to boot Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI) on an x64 machine
• Improved success rate for MeetingSpace and Remote Assistance connections that are protected by a firewall