Vista Service Pack 2 contents detailed
Microsoft has detailed many of the updates and new features contained in Service Pack 2. The beta edition of the package is set for release today, though the final version won’t be out until around April.
The biggest surprise on the surface is that the security patches listed as included in the Service Pack 2, which cover most of the fixes from the Windows Updates since SP1, don’t include the emergency patch issued at the end of October to fix a major vulnerability in the Windows networking system.
However, given that the fixes from the regular November update aren’t listed either, it may simply be that there’s a delay adding each month’s fixes and that these will be included in the final edition. Even though the vast majority of users should have received and applied these patches, it would seem to make sense to include them in the Service Pack as well to be on the safe side.
While there’s no single comprehensive list of features yet, Microsoft has detailed some of the contents in two posts to its Technet site, a resource for IT professionals. As well as previously rumored additions such as Blu-ray recording and a new edition of Windows Search, there are some useful features such as the ability to add Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) stamps to files on flash-based drives such as USB sticks.
That’s hardly going to revolutionize the Windows experience, but it could prove extremely handy for some users, for example lawyers who travel across timezones in the US but need to keep accurate track of the times and durations they’ve worked on files.
There’s also a little more detail about the distribution process. The decision to make Service Pack 1 a pre-requisite for installing Service Pack 2 means the download for the average home user should be around 41MB (60MB for the 64-bit edition). That’s a bit easier to swallow, particularly for people with download restrictions from their internet provider.
If you haven’t already read it, I recommend checking out Jonathan Schlaffer’s characteristically opinionated take on the beta release.
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