Overview of Windows Vista Service Pack 1

When developing Windows Vista, Microsoft set out to provide higher levels of productivity, mobility, and security, with lower costs. After more than six months of broad availability and usage, it’s evident that these investments are improving the Windows computing experience. For example, in the first six months of use, Windows Vista had fewer security issues than Windows XP (Windows Vista had only 12 issues, and Windows XP had 36). According to the Windows Vista 6-Month Vulnerability Report by Jeffery R. Jones, Windows Vista had fewer security issues than all the popular operating systems he studied.

Although most companies are cautious when deploying a new operating system, many have already started testing and evaluating Windows Vista for deployment, and some have already deployed Windows Vista into their production environments and begun seeing the business benefits Windows Vista can provide.

Microsoft’s efforts to provide the best Windows experience ever in Windows Vista did not end with its launch. This white paper describes the ways Microsoft strives to continuously improve Windows Vista. It then introduces Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) and describes how the service pack will fit into the ongoing improvement process.

Organizations do not need to wait for SP1 to deploy Windows Vista; they are encouraged to begin their Windows Vista evaluation and deployment now:

Organizations waiting for Windows Vista SP1 should start their compatibility testing on the gold release of Windows Vista now, and then begin their evaluation and pilot programs on the release candidate of Windows Vista SP1 when it is released. Windows Vista includes architectural changes relative to Windows XP that improve security and reliability. These changes can cause some applications which work on Windows XP not to work on Windows Vista. However, these architectural changes are also part of Windows Vista SP1. For this reason, testing applications on Windows Vista today will be a very good proxy for compatibility with Windows Vista SP1.

Microsoft uses Windows Vista instrumentation to learn what issues affect customers most and then address the issues. This instrumentation includes the Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP) and Online Crash Analysis (OCA), both of which are opt-in, anonymous services. Microsoft not only uses this information to fix Windows Vista issues, but it also shares this information with software and hardware vendors so they can fix application compatibility and device driver issues.

The traditional service packs with which most organizations are familiar are only one way that Microsoft improves the Windows experience. Continuous improvements to the Windows Vista experience come from numerous channels, including ongoing updates, application compatibility improvements, and device driver improvements. The following sections describe each of these channels in detail.

Ongoing updates address some of the most important issues affecting Microsoft customers. For example, Microsoft recently released two performance and reliability updates that address issues reported by customers (see Microsoft Support articles 938194 and 938979 ). Microsoft already delivers these and many other Windows Vista updates through various channels, including:

Organizations choose which updates they want to deploy and the methods for deploying them—using Windows Update, for example. Enterprises are more likely to deploy updates using Windows Server® Update Services (WSUS), Microsoft® System Center Configuration Manager 2007, or third-party tools.

Microsoft is making steady progress toward resolving application compatibility issues by engaging with independent software vendors (ISVs) to get major applications—such as antivirus and virtual private networking (VPN) applications—working on Windows Vista. Since the launch, more than 100 major enterprise applications have moved to Windows Vista. These include applications from ISVs like Adobe, Citrix, Oracle, Sun, HP, LANDesk, and IBM. Hundreds more applications have been tested and remediated by ISVs that visited the Microsoft ISV application compatibility lab for weeklong engagements. As a result of these efforts, nearly 2,300 applications now have the Windows Vista logo, (see REF _Ref173226201 \hFigure 1). Applications that are Certified for Windows Vista are designed and tested to deliver a superior experience with PCs running the Windows Vista operating system so software is easy to install, better performing, and more secure, while products that have earned the Works with Windows Vista logo have been tested for baseline compatibility with PCs running the Windows Vista Operating System.

Figure 1. Applications with the Windows Vista logo

In addition to helping ISVs resolve application compatibility issues, Microsoft provided robust tools at the Windows Vista launch to help information technology (IT) professionals assess and mitigate problems with existing applications. The primary tool they use is the Application Compatibility Toolkit 5.0 .. To help make migrating to Windows Vista easier, Microsoft has created the Application Compatibility Factory (ACF) that connects its enterprise customers with selected partners that deliver high volume, low cost application compatibility and remediation services.

Device compatibility is also important to Windows Vista customers. As shown in REF _Ref173226224 \hFigure 2, device driver coverage continues to grow for Windows Vista. Microsoft has added 700,000 new device types since the initial Windows Vista release in November 2006. Including device drivers in the box and those available from Windows Update, by July 2007 Windows Vista supported nearly 2.2 million devices. That covers the vast majority of devices in use. The number of Windows Vista logo devices exceeds 15,000, and the growth is outpacing Windows XP.

Figure 2. Thousands of Drivers Available in Windows Vista and on Windows Update

In addition to regular Windows Vista updates, application compatibility improvements, and device driver improvements, Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) is another way Microsoft will deliver improvements to the Windows Vista customer experience.

The goal of Windows Vista SP1 is to address key feedback Microsoft has received from its customers without regressing application compatibility. Windows Vista SP1 will deliver improvements and enhancements to existing features that significantly impact customers, but it does not deliver substantial new operating system features. For example, the service pack improves the performance of the desktop shell, but it does not provide a new search user interface or a new version of Windows® Media Center.

The updates in Windows Vista SP1 fall into three categories, which the following sections describe in detail:

A more comprehensive list of changes can be found in the whitepaper titled Notable Changes in Windows Vista Service Pack 1 Release Candidate .

Quality improvements have the broadest impact on all customers. It is the foundation of Windows Vista SP1 and is about improving the overall Windows Vista experience.

First, Windows Vista SP1 will include all previously released updates for Windows Vista. It also will include security, reliability, and performance improvements. These improvements target some of the issues Microsoft has identified as the most common causes of operating system crashes and hangs, giving customers a more reliable experience. These updates also improve performance in key scenarios—for example, when copying files or shutting down the computer.

The following sections describe many of the security, reliability, and performance improvements that will be in Windows Vista SP1.

Security improvements that will be in Windows Vista SP1 include:

Windows Vista SP1 will include improvements that target some of the most common causes of crashes and hangs, giving users a more consistent experience. Many of these improvements will specifically address issues identified from the Windows Error Reporting tool. The following list describes some of the reliability improvements that Windows Vista SP1 will include:

The following list describes some of the performance improvements that Windows Vista SP1 will include:

Many of the changes in Windows Vista SP1 will improve the deployment, management, and support experience for Windows Vista customers. The following list describes some of these enhancements:

In addition to these changes, Windows Vista SP1 will change the tools that customers use to manage Group Policy. Administrators requested features in Group Policy that simplify policy management. To do this, the service pack will uninstall the Group Policy Management Console (GPMC) and GPEdit.msc will edit local Group Policy by default. In the SP1 timeframe, administrators can download an out-of-band release that will give them the ability to add comments to Group Policy Objects (GPOs) or individual settings and search for specific settings.

Note: Users will find that after installing Windows Vista SP1, they no longer have access to GPMC, and that the new, enhanced version of GPMC has not yet been released. In this case, administrators can continue to edit Group Policy by opening a remote desktop session directly to the server or to a PC running the release to manufacturing (RTM) version of Windows Vista.

The technology industry is fast-paced and constantly changing. Throughout the life cycle of any version of the Windows operating system, the industry creates new hardware innovations and defines new standards. Windows Vista SP1 will include support for some of these new hardware innovations and standards, because Microsoft expects them to become increasingly important in the near future. The following list describes some of the enhancements of Windows Vista SP1 that will support these emerging innovations and standards: