So finally Microsoft came out with the most awaited enhancement for Vista in the form of Service Pack 1. Especially after finding many bugs as soon as I started using it 5 months back, I was also desperately waiting for Service Pack 1. Yesterday Microsoft released the Release to Manufacturing (RTM) version of Windows Vista Service Pack 1 in 5 languages (English, French, German, Spanish and Japanese). Vista is just a year now and gradually gaining popularity and users are starting to like it. So what can be a better time then this for release of SP1.

When Vista came out in late January last year, there were issues with programs compatibility, device drivers not suiting and it created much disappointment in public. They started loosing faith on Vista. Many people switched back to Windows XP as they were quite habituated using that. But at present you will find almost all programs available for Vista and drivers is not at all an issue. Infact the driver store of Vista is so huge that it has built in support for many older as well as newer devices. With the release of Service Pack 1 this will further enhance the value. According to Microsoft’s Mike Nash the problem with incompatible drivers and application is due to some last time architectural changes to the system in order to improve reliability and security.

The current version of Vista is not even 50% ready when it comes to the features Microsoft planned to implement in Vista, so I am expecting some of them to be available in Service Pack 1. Microsoft must have cnsidered the feedback collected through Customer Experience Improvement and Online Crash Analysis (The most distracting window that comes up when some programs crashes) to add improvements. I would be happy to find my IE running smoothly and file getting copied bit faster. These are the two areas I have hated Vista the most.

Below is a list of features Microsoft which will be available in Vista:

1. It will have all previously released updates.
2. Performance and reliability improvements in core scenarios such as file copy, network browsing, and improved response time to resume from sleep.
3. Support for more new hardware.
4. Encrypting multiple volumes with BitLocker.
5. More security and reliability.
6. Prevention of OEM BIOS hacking and Grace Timer Exploit.

You can further read about the list of features , FAQS on Vista SP1 and list of patches.

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