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<?xml-stylesheet type="text/xsl" href="http://windowsteamblog.com/utility/FeedStylesheets/rss.xsl" media="screen"?><rss version="2.0" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/" xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/"><channel><title>Windows Vista Team Blog : Windows Vista</title><link>http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/tags/Windows+Vista/default.aspx</link><description>Tags: Windows Vista</description><dc:language>en</dc:language><generator>CommunityServer 2008 SP1 (Build: 30619.63)</generator><item><title>Remaining Windows Vista SP2 Languages Released to Windows Update</title><link>http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/2009/06/30/remaining-windows-vista-sp2-languages-released-to-windows-update.aspx</link><pubDate>Wed, 01 Jul 2009 04:34:10 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">d5e57398-b9ef-4490-9955-07cbb4e4a80d:517903</guid><dc:creator>Brandon LeBlanc</dc:creator><slash:comments>18</slash:comments><wfw:commentRss xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/">http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/rsscomments.aspx?PostID=517903</wfw:commentRss><comments>http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/2009/06/30/remaining-windows-vista-sp2-languages-released-to-windows-update.aspx#comments</comments><description>&lt;p&gt;Back on May 26th, &lt;a href="http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/2009/05/26/windows-vista-and-windows-server-2008-sp2-rtw.aspx"&gt;we announced&lt;/a&gt; Windows Vista SP2 and Windows Server 2008 SP2 hit the RTW milestone. The first wave of languages (English, German, French, Spanish, and Japanese) was made available on Windows Update at that time. Today, we are releasing the remaining languages for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 SP2 to Windows Update. &lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p&gt;For more information, including languages, on Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 SP2 &lt;a href="http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/dd767623.aspx"&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p&gt;If you have Windows Update configured to download updates automatically, Windows Update will notify you when Windows Vista SP2 and Windows Server 2008 SP2 is ready to be installed. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="wlWriterHeaderFooter" style="text-align:left; margin:0px; padding:4px 0px 4px 0px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://digg.com/submit?url=http%3a%2f%2fwindowsteamblog.com%2fblogs%2fwindowsvista%2farchive%2f2009%2f06%2f30%2fremaining-windows-vista-sp2-languages-released-to-windows-update.aspx&amp;amp;title=Remaining+Windows+Vista+SP2+Languages+Released+to+Windows+Update"&gt;&lt;img src="http://digg.com/img/badges/100x20-digg-button.png" width="100" height="20" alt="Digg This" title="Digg This" border="0" style="border: 0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="clear:both;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://windowsteamblog.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=517903" width="1" height="1"&gt;</description><category domain="http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/tags/Windows+Vista/default.aspx">Windows Vista</category><category domain="http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/tags/Announcement/default.aspx">Announcement</category><category domain="http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/tags/Windows+Update/default.aspx">Windows Update</category><category domain="http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/tags/Windows+Server+2008/default.aspx">Windows Server 2008</category><category domain="http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/tags/Windows+Vista+SP2/default.aspx">Windows Vista SP2</category><category domain="http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/tags/SP2/default.aspx">SP2</category><category domain="http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/tags/Service+Pack+2/default.aspx">Service Pack 2</category></item><item><title>Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 SP2 RTW</title><link>http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/2009/05/26/windows-vista-and-windows-server-2008-sp2-rtw.aspx</link><pubDate>Tue, 26 May 2009 23:26:03 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">d5e57398-b9ef-4490-9955-07cbb4e4a80d:515078</guid><dc:creator>Brandon LeBlanc</dc:creator><slash:comments>50</slash:comments><wfw:commentRss xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/">http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/rsscomments.aspx?PostID=515078</wfw:commentRss><comments>http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/2009/05/26/windows-vista-and-windows-server-2008-sp2-rtw.aspx#comments</comments><description>&lt;p&gt;On April 28&lt;sup&gt;th&lt;/sup&gt;, we &lt;a href="http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/2009/04/28/windows-vista-sp2-rtm-windows-vista-sp1-blocker-tool-removed.aspx"&gt;announced&lt;/a&gt; that Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 (Service Pack 2) SP2 had RTM’d. Today, we are pleased to announce the Release to Web (RTW) for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 SP2.&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px" title="WV-SP2_h_rgb" border="0" alt="WV-SP2_h_rgb" src="http://windowsteamblog.com/cfs-file.ashx/__key/CommunityServer.Blogs.Components.WeblogFiles/windowsvista/WVSP2_5F00_h_5F00_rgb_5F00_thumb_5F00_647AE510.png" width="240" height="55" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p&gt;Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 SP2, a combined service pack for both operating systems encapsulated in a single installer, will simplify deployment, management, and support for IT Professionals. It includes support for new types of hardware and emerging hardware standards, as well as updates since SP1.&amp;#160; For specific information on what’s included in SP2, visit the &lt;a href="http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd335036.aspx"&gt;notable changes document&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/dd262148.aspx"&gt;Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 SP2&lt;/a&gt; is now available for download on the Microsoft Download Center and on Windows Update.&amp;#160;&amp;#160; &lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Download: &lt;a href="http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=a4dd31d5-f907-4406-9012-a5c3199ea2b3"&gt;Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 SP2 x86 (5 Language Standalone)&lt;/a&gt;       &lt;br /&gt;Download: &lt;a href="http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=656c9d4a-55ec-4972-a0d7-b1a6fedf51a7"&gt;Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 SP2 x64 (5 Language Standalone)&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p&gt;Consumers with Windows Vista SP1 can visit the Microsoft Download Center or use Windows Update (WU) to install SP2, but my suggestion is to turn on Automatic Update (AU) and sometime during the coming months your computer will download and install SP2. Similar to previous releases, SP2 delivery over Automatic Update is a “throttled release” which will begin in June. &lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p&gt;Business customers who require additional time to prepare for the download and deployment of SP2 can use the same blocker tool kit provided for Windows Vista SP1 to delay deployment.&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p&gt;Business customers with Windows Vista will find the transition to Windows 7 will be significantly more straightforward due to the high degree of compatibility between Windows Vista and Windows 7. For more on Windows deployment guidance, I suggest reading &lt;a href="http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/business/archive/2009/02/11/guidance-on-windows-deployments-for-business-customers.aspx"&gt;this blog post&lt;/a&gt; from Gavriella Schuster. &lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p&gt;Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 SP2 represents Microsoft’s continued commitment to quality. While most updates contained in SP2 are available as individual downloads, the roll-up convenience of SP2 is a major benefit for administrators. This functionality coupled with new advanced deployment features, such as the single installer and the pre-installation analyzer, means SP2 continues to provide ongoing improvements that our customers have grown to expect from Microsoft. For more detail on SP2’s contents, see &lt;a href="http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd335033(WS.10).aspx"&gt;Hotfixes and Security Updates in Windows Server 2008 SP2 and Windows Vista SP2&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="wlWriterHeaderFooter" style="text-align:left; margin:0px; padding:4px 0px 4px 0px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://digg.com/submit?url=http%3a%2f%2fwindowsteamblog.com%2fblogs%2fwindowsvista%2farchive%2f2009%2f05%2f26%2fwindows-vista-and-windows-server-2008-sp2-rtw.aspx&amp;amp;title=Windows+Vista+and+Windows+Server+2008+SP2+RTW"&gt;&lt;img src="http://digg.com/img/badges/100x20-digg-button.png" width="100" height="20" alt="Digg This" title="Digg This" border="0" style="border: 0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="clear:both;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://windowsteamblog.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=515078" width="1" height="1"&gt;</description><category domain="http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/tags/Windows+Vista/default.aspx">Windows Vista</category><category domain="http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/tags/Windows+Update/default.aspx">Windows Update</category><category domain="http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/tags/Automatic+Update/default.aspx">Automatic Update</category><category domain="http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/tags/Windows+Vista+SP2/default.aspx">Windows Vista SP2</category><category domain="http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/tags/Availability/default.aspx">Availability</category><category domain="http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/tags/RTW/default.aspx">RTW</category><category domain="http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/tags/Download/default.aspx">Download</category></item><item><title>Windows Vista SP2 RTM + Windows Vista SP1 Blocker Tool Removed</title><link>http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/2009/04/28/windows-vista-sp2-rtm-windows-vista-sp1-blocker-tool-removed.aspx</link><pubDate>Tue, 28 Apr 2009 23:49:56 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">d5e57398-b9ef-4490-9955-07cbb4e4a80d:513166</guid><dc:creator>Brandon LeBlanc</dc:creator><slash:comments>179</slash:comments><wfw:commentRss xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/">http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/rsscomments.aspx?PostID=513166</wfw:commentRss><comments>http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/2009/04/28/windows-vista-sp2-rtm-windows-vista-sp1-blocker-tool-removed.aspx#comments</comments><description>&lt;p&gt;Today we are announcing the Release to Manufacturing (RTM) of Service Pack 2 (SP2) for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008. SP2 represents the latest step in Microsoft’s commitment to continuous improvement. It includes all updates that have been delivered since SP1, as well as support for new types of hardware and emerging hardware standards.&amp;#160; &lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p&gt;As we have mentioned before, here are some of the key benefits of Windows Vista SP2:&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;ul&gt;   &lt;li&gt;Windows Search 4.0 for faster and improved relevancy in searches &lt;/li&gt;    &lt;li&gt;Bluetooth 2.1 Feature Pack supporting the most recent specification for Bluetooth Technology &lt;/li&gt;    &lt;li&gt;Ability to record data on to Blu-Ray media natively in Windows Vista &lt;/li&gt;    &lt;li&gt;Adds Windows Connect Now (WCN) to simplify Wi-Fi Configuration &lt;/li&gt;    &lt;li&gt;Windows Vista SP2 enables the exFAT file system to support UTC timestamps, which allows correct file synchronization across time zones. &lt;/li&gt; &lt;/ul&gt;  &lt;p&gt;And since it comes with a single installer for both Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008, SP2 will be easy for IT Pros to manage, deploy, and support. For a complete overview of the changes introduced in SP2 for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008, check out the &lt;a href="http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd335036.aspx"&gt;notable changes document&lt;/a&gt; on TechNet.&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p&gt;Business customers with Windows Vista will find that the transition from Windows Vista to Windows 7 will be significantly more straightforward due to the high degree of compatibility between Windows Vista and Windows 7. If your Windows Vista SP1 deployment is already underway we recommend you continue with SP1 as planned. Then you can deploy SP2 using your systems management infrastructure.&amp;#160; If you are in the early stages of deployment or still planning Windows Vista deployment our best advice is that you plan on testing and deploying Windows Vista SP2. For more, I suggest reading &lt;a href="http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/business/archive/2009/02/11/guidance-on-windows-deployments-for-business-customers.aspx"&gt;this blog post&lt;/a&gt; from Gavriella Schuster in regards to guidance on Windows deployments.&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p&gt;We expect Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 SP2 to be publicly available in Q2 2009. &lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p&gt;As a quick reminder, Windows Vista SP1 Service Pack Blocker Tool is being removed today, as &lt;a href="http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/2009/01/29/expiration-of-service-pack-blocker-tool-for-windows-vista-amp-windows-xp.aspx"&gt;we announced&lt;/a&gt; back in January. For customers who previously had the blocker tool in place, Windows Vista SP1 will now be offered to them via Windows Update.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="clear:both;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://windowsteamblog.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=513166" width="1" height="1"&gt;</description><category domain="http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/tags/Windows+Vista/default.aspx">Windows Vista</category><category domain="http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/tags/Announcement/default.aspx">Announcement</category><category domain="http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/tags/Windows+Server+2008/default.aspx">Windows Server 2008</category><category domain="http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/tags/Windows+Search+4.0/default.aspx">Windows Search 4.0</category><category domain="http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/tags/Windows+Vista+SP2/default.aspx">Windows Vista SP2</category><category domain="http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/tags/Service+Pack+2/default.aspx">Service Pack 2</category><category domain="http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/tags/Service+Pack+Blocker+Tool/default.aspx">Service Pack Blocker Tool</category><category domain="http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/tags/exFAT/default.aspx">exFAT</category></item><item><title>Try the Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 SP2 RC Today!</title><link>http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/2009/03/04/try-the-windows-vista-and-windows-server-2008-sp2-rc-today.aspx</link><pubDate>Thu, 05 Mar 2009 06:16:00 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">d5e57398-b9ef-4490-9955-07cbb4e4a80d:510383</guid><dc:creator>Brandon LeBlanc</dc:creator><slash:comments>44</slash:comments><wfw:commentRss xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/">http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/rsscomments.aspx?PostID=510383</wfw:commentRss><comments>http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/2009/03/04/try-the-windows-vista-and-windows-server-2008-sp2-rc-today.aspx#comments</comments><description>&lt;p&gt;Last week &lt;a href="http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/2009/02/25/announcing-the-service-pack-2-for-windows-vista-and-windows-server-2008-rc.aspx"&gt;we announced&lt;/a&gt; the Release Candidate (RC) for &lt;b&gt;Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2&lt;/b&gt;. We initially made it available for TechNet and MSDN subscribers. Today, we&amp;rsquo;re making it available to anyone interested in testing SP2 for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 prior to final release. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;You can download the Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2 RC from our &lt;a href="http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/dd262148.aspx"&gt;Customer Preview Program&lt;/a&gt; site or install through Windows Update using our &lt;a href="http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=18045534-BF27-4953-B907-764C4682714C&amp;amp;displaylang=en"&gt;Windows Update Experience Kit&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;If you have the SP2 for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 Beta installed, you will need to uninstall that first before installing the RC.&amp;nbsp; &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;You can also check out the SP2 for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 RC notable changes &lt;a href="http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=134024"&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;. And you can submit feedback on SP2 for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 &lt;a href="http://social.technet.microsoft.com/forums/en-US/itprovistasp/threads/"&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; on the TechNet Forums.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;div class="wlWriterHeaderFooter" style="text-align:left; margin:0px; padding:4px 0px 4px 0px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://digg.com/submit?url=http%3a%2f%2fwindowsteamblog.com%2fblogs%2fwindowsvista%2farchive%2f2009%2f03%2f04%2ftry-the-windows-vista-and-windows-server-2008-sp2-rc-today.aspx&amp;amp;title=Try+the+Windows+Vista+and+Windows+Server+2008+SP2+RC+Today!"&gt;&lt;img src="http://digg.com/img/badges/100x20-digg-button.png" alt="Digg This" title="Digg This" style="border: 0" width="100" border="0" height="20" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="clear:both;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://windowsteamblog.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=510383" width="1" height="1"&gt;</description><category domain="http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/tags/Windows+Vista/default.aspx">Windows Vista</category><category domain="http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/tags/Announcement/default.aspx">Announcement</category><category domain="http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/tags/Release+Candidate/default.aspx">Release Candidate</category><category domain="http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/tags/RC/default.aspx">RC</category><category domain="http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/tags/Windows+Vista+SP2/default.aspx">Windows Vista SP2</category><category domain="http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/tags/Service+Pack/default.aspx">Service Pack</category><category domain="http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/tags/Service+Pack+2/default.aspx">Service Pack 2</category></item><item><title>Announcing the Service Pack 2 for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 RC</title><link>http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/2009/02/25/announcing-the-service-pack-2-for-windows-vista-and-windows-server-2008-rc.aspx</link><pubDate>Wed, 25 Feb 2009 19:24:05 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">d5e57398-b9ef-4490-9955-07cbb4e4a80d:510066</guid><dc:creator>Brandon LeBlanc</dc:creator><slash:comments>107</slash:comments><wfw:commentRss xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/">http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/rsscomments.aspx?PostID=510066</wfw:commentRss><comments>http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/2009/02/25/announcing-the-service-pack-2-for-windows-vista-and-windows-server-2008-rc.aspx#comments</comments><description>&lt;p&gt;This week we are announcing that &lt;b&gt;Service Pack 2 for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008&lt;/b&gt; has hit an important milestone in development: Release Candidate (RC).&amp;#160; &lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p&gt;Starting today, the RC of SP2 for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 will be available to TechNet and MSDN subscribers to test prior to final release. In the very near future, we will be making the RC broadly available for anyone to download and test. You can expect another blog post from me when that happens. &lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p&gt;SP2 for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 include updates that have been delivered since the release of SP1, as well as support for new types of hardware and emerging standards. As we’ve described since we first talked about SP2, we’ve taken your feedback into account when developing SP2. Specifically, we expect SP2 to continue the security benefits of both products and simplify deployment for our customers. &lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p&gt;For an outline of changes in SP2 for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008, &lt;a href="http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/pages/notable-changes-in-sp2-rc-for-windows-vista-and-windows-server-2008.aspx"&gt;check out the notable changes document&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p&gt;We are planning to release SP2 for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 in the second quarter of 2009.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="wlWriterHeaderFooter" style="text-align:left; margin:0px; padding:4px 0px 4px 0px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://digg.com/submit?url=http%3a%2f%2fwindowsteamblog.com%2fblogs%2fwindowsvista%2farchive%2f2009%2f02%2f25%2fannouncing-the-service-pack-2-for-windows-vista-and-windows-server-2008-rc.aspx&amp;amp;title=Announcing+the+Service+Pack+2+for+Windows+Vista+and+Windows+Server+2008+RC"&gt;&lt;img src="http://digg.com/img/badges/100x20-digg-button.png" width="100" height="20" alt="Digg This" title="Digg This" border="0" style="border: 0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="clear:both;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://windowsteamblog.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=510066" width="1" height="1"&gt;</description><category domain="http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/tags/Windows+Vista/default.aspx">Windows Vista</category><category domain="http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/tags/Announcement/default.aspx">Announcement</category><category domain="http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/tags/MSDN/default.aspx">MSDN</category><category domain="http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/tags/TechNet/default.aspx">TechNet</category><category domain="http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/tags/Windows+Vista+SP2/default.aspx">Windows Vista SP2</category><category domain="http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/tags/Technology+Enthusiasts/default.aspx">Technology Enthusiasts</category><category domain="http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/tags/Service+Pack/default.aspx">Service Pack</category><category domain="http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/tags/Service+Pack+2/default.aspx">Service Pack 2</category></item><item><title>Announcing MED-V 1.0 Beta – Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization</title><link>http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/2009/01/15/announcing-med-v-1-0-beta-microsoft-enterprise-desktop-virtualization.aspx</link><pubDate>Thu, 15 Jan 2009 19:34:20 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">d5e57398-b9ef-4490-9955-07cbb4e4a80d:508033</guid><dc:creator>Brandon LeBlanc</dc:creator><slash:comments>12</slash:comments><wfw:commentRss xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/">http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/rsscomments.aspx?PostID=508033</wfw:commentRss><comments>http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/2009/01/15/announcing-med-v-1-0-beta-microsoft-enterprise-desktop-virtualization.aspx#comments</comments><description>&lt;p&gt;Over on the MDOP Blog – Senior Product Manager Ran Oelgiesser has announced the availability of the first beta release of &lt;b&gt;Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization&lt;/b&gt; (MED-V) 1.0 today. MED-V is the 6th product in the &lt;a href="http://www.microsoft.com/windows/enterprise/technologies/mdop.aspx"&gt;Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack&lt;/a&gt; and part of the acquisition of the desktop virtualization vendor Kidaro. We acquired Kidaro in May 2008 and MED-V is the first product based off Kidaro technology. &lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p&gt;So what is MED-V? MED-V is an enterprise virtualization solution that IT folks can use for compatibility challenges in their environments. MED-V allows IT Pros to easily create, deliver and centrally manage virtualized Windows XP or 2000 environments to run legacy applications on Windows Vista desktops. &lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p&gt;For more information on MED-V and how to download the Beta, &lt;a href="http://blogs.technet.com/mdop/archive/2009/01/15/microsoft-enterprise-desktop-virtualization-med-v-beta-is-publicly-available.aspx"&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to read more from Ran on the MDOP Blog. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="wlWriterHeaderFooter" style="text-align:left;margin:0px;padding:4px 0px 4px 0px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://digg.com/submit?url=http%3a%2f%2fwindowsteamblog.com%2fblogs%2fwindowsvista%2farchive%2f2009%2f01%2f15%2fannouncing-med-v-1-0-beta-microsoft-enterprise-desktop-virtualization.aspx&amp;amp;title=Announcing+MED-V+1.0+Beta+%e2%80%93+Microsoft+Enterprise+Desktop+Virtualization"&gt;&lt;img src="http://digg.com/img/badges/100x20-digg-button.png" width="100" height="20" alt="Digg This" title="Digg This" border="0" style="border:0;" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="clear:both;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://windowsteamblog.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=508033" width="1" height="1"&gt;</description><category domain="http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/tags/Windows+Vista/default.aspx">Windows Vista</category><category domain="http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/tags/Announcement/default.aspx">Announcement</category><category domain="http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/tags/Microsoft+Desktop+Optimization+Pack/default.aspx">Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack</category><category domain="http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/tags/Enterprise/default.aspx">Enterprise</category><category domain="http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/tags/MDOP/default.aspx">MDOP</category><category domain="http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/tags/MED-V/default.aspx">MED-V</category><category domain="http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/tags/Microsoft+Enterprise+Desktop+Virtualization/default.aspx">Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization</category></item><item><title>Announcing the Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2 Customer Preview Program (CPP)</title><link>http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/2008/12/02/announcing-the-windows-vista-and-windows-server-2008-service-pack-2-customer-preview-program-cpp.aspx</link><pubDate>Tue, 02 Dec 2008 22:23:00 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">d5e57398-b9ef-4490-9955-07cbb4e4a80d:503978</guid><dc:creator>Mike Nash</dc:creator><slash:comments>132</slash:comments><wfw:commentRss xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/">http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/rsscomments.aspx?PostID=503978</wfw:commentRss><comments>http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/2008/12/02/announcing-the-windows-vista-and-windows-server-2008-service-pack-2-customer-preview-program-cpp.aspx#comments</comments><description>&lt;p&gt;Hi, Mike Nash here. In late October &lt;a href="http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/2008/10/24/windows-vista-service-pack-2-beta.aspx"&gt;I announced the Beta&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp; of Service Pack 2 for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 - beginning with a small group of Technology Adoption Program customers. This week we&amp;#39;re opening up the beta to a broader audience. Starting today, MSDN and TechNet subscribers will have access to the Windows Vista and&amp;nbsp;Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2 Beta to begin testing. &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Beginning Thursday Dec. 4&lt;sup&gt;th&lt;/sup&gt;, we will be making the Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2 Beta available to everyone through a Customer Preview Program (CPP). The CPP will &lt;a href="http://technet.microsoft.com/windows/dd262148"&gt;launch on TechNet&lt;/a&gt; and be available to anyone interested in trying out this service pack. The CPP is intended for technology enthusiasts, developers, and IT Pros who would like to test Service Pack 2 in their environments and with their applications prior to final release. For most customers, our best advice would be to wait until the final release prior to installing this service pack. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;For those of you who choose to test this service pack, we encourage you to install the beta as soon as you can; your feedback will help us to ship a solid and stable service pack for Windows Vista. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Windows Vista SP2 builds on the solid foundation of Windows Vista SP1, and represents our ongoing commitment to Windows Vista today. Windows Vista SP2 includes all of the updates that have been delivered since the release of Windows Vista SP1, and incorporates improvements discovered through automated feedback from the Customer Experience Improvement Program (where users voluntarily opt-in to sending Microsoft error reports from their systems).&amp;nbsp; In addition to these updates, SP2 also includes support for new types of hardware and emerging standards that will grow in importance in the coming months. For specific changes in Windows Vista SP2 - see my previous &lt;a href="http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/2008/10/24/windows-vista-service-pack-2-beta.aspx"&gt;post&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;on Windows Vista SP2 or check out the &lt;a href="http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=134024"&gt;notable changes document&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Your feedback from testing will help us deliver the highest quality release possible.&amp;nbsp;As of today, we are tracking to ship Windows Vista SP2 in the first half of 2009. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="clear:both;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://windowsteamblog.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=503978" width="1" height="1"&gt;</description><category domain="http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/tags/Windows+Vista/default.aspx">Windows Vista</category><category domain="http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/tags/Announcement/default.aspx">Announcement</category><category domain="http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/tags/Developers/default.aspx">Developers</category><category domain="http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/tags/IT+Pro/default.aspx">IT Pro</category><category domain="http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/tags/Technology+Enthusiasts/default.aspx">Technology Enthusiasts</category><category domain="http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/tags/SP2/default.aspx">SP2</category><category domain="http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/tags/Service+Pack/default.aspx">Service Pack</category><category domain="http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/tags/Service+Pack+2/default.aspx">Service Pack 2</category></item><item><title>Windows Vista Service Pack 2 Beta</title><link>http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/2008/10/24/windows-vista-service-pack-2-beta.aspx</link><pubDate>Sat, 25 Oct 2008 04:13:00 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">d5e57398-b9ef-4490-9955-07cbb4e4a80d:502481</guid><dc:creator>Mike Nash</dc:creator><slash:comments>168</slash:comments><wfw:commentRss xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/">http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/rsscomments.aspx?PostID=502481</wfw:commentRss><comments>http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/2008/10/24/windows-vista-service-pack-2-beta.aspx#comments</comments><description>&lt;p&gt;Hi there, Mike Nash here.&amp;nbsp; &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;As you know we are getting ready to talk about Windows 7 at the PDC next week.&amp;nbsp; Before we do that, I thought I would give you an update on our latest work for Windows Vista.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;We are committed to continually improving Windows, and we&amp;#39;ve been getting some questions about the timing of the next service pack for Windows Vista.&amp;nbsp; Following the success of Windows Vista Service Pack 1 last spring, we have been working hard on Windows Vista Service Pack 2.&amp;nbsp;As a part of the development and testing process, we&amp;#39;re going to start by providing a small group of Technology Adoption Program customers with Windows Vista SP2 Beta for evaluation next Wednesday, October 29.&amp;nbsp;The final release date for Windows Vista SP2 will be based on quality.&amp;nbsp;So we&amp;#39;ll track customer and partner feedback from the beta program before setting a final date for the release.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Windows Vista SP2 Beta contains previously released fixes focused on addressing specific reliability, performance, and compatibility issues. We expect Windows Vista SP2 will retain compatibility with applications that run on Windows Vista and Windows Vista SP1 and are written using public APIs.&amp;nbsp; &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Because we&amp;#39;ve adopted a single serviceability model, these improvements are integrated into &lt;i&gt;a single&lt;/i&gt; service pack covering both Windows Vista (client) and Windows Server 2008 (server) versions.&amp;nbsp;This should also minimize deployment and testing complexity for our customers.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In addition to previously released updates since the launch of Windows Vista SP1, Windows Vista SP2 contains changes focused on supporting new types of hardware and adding support for several emerging standards:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Windows Vista SP2 adds Windows Search 4.0 for faster and improved relevancy in searches. &lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Windows Vista SP2 contains the Bluetooth 2.1 Feature Pack supporting the most recent specification for Bluetooth Technology. &lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Ability to record data on to Blu-Ray media natively in Windows Vista. &lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Adds Windows Connect Now (WCN) to simplify Wi-Fi Configuration. &lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Windows Vista SP2 enables the exFAT file system to support UTC timestamps, which allows correct file synchronization across time zones.&amp;nbsp; &lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;p&gt;One question I know that you will ask is &amp;quot;should I wait for SP2?&amp;quot;&amp;nbsp;The reality is that Windows Vista SP1 is a great platform that is both available on new Windows PCs and available as a free download for systems that are running the &amp;quot;gold&amp;quot; release of Windows Vista.&amp;nbsp; While we will recommend SP2 when it ships, your best bet today is Windows Vista SP1. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I look forward to sharing more about Windows Vista SP2 in the future - stay tuned!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Mike&lt;i&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="clear:both;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://windowsteamblog.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=502481" width="1" height="1"&gt;</description><category domain="http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/tags/Windows+Vista/default.aspx">Windows Vista</category><category domain="http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/tags/Announcement/default.aspx">Announcement</category><category domain="http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/tags/Featured+News/default.aspx">Featured News</category><category domain="http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/tags/Windows+Vista+SP1/default.aspx">Windows Vista SP1</category><category domain="http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/tags/Windows+Vista+SP2/default.aspx">Windows Vista SP2</category></item><item><title>New Windows Ultimate Extras Now Available</title><link>http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/2008/09/23/new-windows-ultimate-extras-now-available.aspx</link><pubDate>Wed, 24 Sep 2008 00:22:00 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">d5e57398-b9ef-4490-9955-07cbb4e4a80d:501709</guid><dc:creator>Chris Flores</dc:creator><slash:comments>66</slash:comments><wfw:commentRss xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/">http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/rsscomments.aspx?PostID=501709</wfw:commentRss><comments>http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/2008/09/23/new-windows-ultimate-extras-now-available.aspx#comments</comments><description>Today we are excited to announce that 3 new Windows Ultimate Extras are now available for installation via Windows Update! This is the&amp;nbsp;6th wave of Ultimate Extras released by Microsoft exclusively for Windows Vista Ultimate users. Users will find the following Ultimate Extras waiting to be installed: 
&lt;P&gt;&lt;B&gt;Microsoft ® Tinker (TM):&lt;/B&gt; Microsoft Tinker is a casual game that provides players with short puzzle game play sessions set in a warm, calming environment.&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;&lt;B&gt;Ultimate Extras Sounds from Microsoft Tinker:&lt;/B&gt; Based on the positive feedback we received from the release of additional Windows Sound Schemes in April, we've integrated the unique audio sounds from Microsoft Tinker into a new sound scheme.&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;&lt;B&gt;Windows ® DreamScene (TM)&amp;nbsp;Content Pack #4&lt;/B&gt; Windows DreamScene Content Pack #4 which adds three additional nature-setting Windows DreamScenes.&amp;nbsp; &lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;Microsoft Tinker was developed for Microsoft as an Ultimate Extra by our Partner &lt;A target=_blank href="http://www.fuelindustries.com/" mce_href="http://www.fuelindustries.com/"&gt;Fuel Industries&lt;/A&gt;. &lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;Windows Ultimate Extras are only for Windows Vista Ultimate users and designed to add to their Windows experience. We will be shipping new Windows Ultimate Extras in the near future and will post additional information here on the blog when that occurs.&amp;nbsp; &lt;/P&gt;&lt;div style="clear:both;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://windowsteamblog.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=501709" width="1" height="1"&gt;</description><category domain="http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/tags/Windows+Vista/default.aspx">Windows Vista</category><category domain="http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/tags/Featured+News/default.aspx">Featured News</category><category domain="http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/tags/Ultimate+Extras/default.aspx">Ultimate Extras</category><category domain="http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/tags/Windows+DreamScene/default.aspx">Windows DreamScene</category><category domain="http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/tags/Microsoft+Tinker/default.aspx">Microsoft Tinker</category><category domain="http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/tags/Windows+Vista+Ultimate/default.aspx">Windows Vista Ultimate</category></item><item><title>Update: Windows Vista and the Optimized Desktop</title><link>http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/2008/09/03/update-windows-vista-and-the-optimized-desktop.aspx</link><pubDate>Wed, 03 Sep 2008 21:45:00 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">d5e57398-b9ef-4490-9955-07cbb4e4a80d:501093</guid><dc:creator>Chris Flores</dc:creator><slash:comments>9</slash:comments><wfw:commentRss xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/">http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/rsscomments.aspx?PostID=501093</wfw:commentRss><comments>http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/2008/09/03/update-windows-vista-and-the-optimized-desktop.aspx#comments</comments><description>A few months ago, first in &lt;A href="http://windowsvistablog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/2008/01/22/microsoft-virtualization-day-helping-it-professionals-do-more-with-less.aspx" mce_href="http://windowsvistablog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/2008/01/22/microsoft-virtualization-day-helping-it-professionals-do-more-with-less.aspx"&gt;January&lt;/A&gt;, and then again in &lt;A href="http://windowsvistablog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/2008/05/22/update-windows-optimized-desktop-for-the-enterprise.aspx" mce_href="http://windowsvistablog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/2008/05/22/update-windows-optimized-desktop-for-the-enterprise.aspx"&gt;May&lt;/A&gt;, Shanen Boettcher, General Manager of Windows Product Management for the Enterprise, commented on our vision for the Optimized Desktop.&amp;nbsp;Today, he posted on the &lt;A href="http://blogs.technet.com/mdop/" mce_href="http://blogs.technet.com/mdop/"&gt;MDOP Team Blog&lt;/A&gt; about the new virtualization product releases, licensing changes, and partnerships that will help customers harness the power of Windows Vista in their organization by optimizing both the end user and IT management experience through a tight integration of physical and virtual resources.&amp;nbsp;Highlights include the RTM (Release to Manufacturing) of Microsoft Application Virtualization 4.5 (called "App-V" for short), Microsoft's desktop virtualization technology that allows applications to run completely isolated from one another (and much more), App-V support in Microsoft System Center and Microsoft Configuration Manager, which tightens integration of physical and virtual resources across desktops and servers, and an expansion of the Vista Enterprise Centralized Desktop license to help prepare Windows Vista customers for the next generation of PC users.&amp;nbsp; 
&lt;P&gt;There's a lot of great information in Shanen's blog post, not just about what the news is, but WHY it is so important for our customers.&amp;nbsp; You can read the full post &lt;A href="http://blogs.technet.com/mdop/archive/2008/09/02/virtualization-delivers-optimized-desktops.aspx" mce_href="http://blogs.technet.com/mdop/archive/2008/09/02/virtualization-delivers-optimized-desktops.aspx"&gt;here&lt;/A&gt;. &lt;/P&gt;&lt;div style="clear:both;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://windowsteamblog.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=501093" width="1" height="1"&gt;</description><category domain="http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/tags/Windows+Vista/default.aspx">Windows Vista</category><category domain="http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/tags/Featured+News/default.aspx">Featured News</category><category domain="http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/tags/IT+Pro/default.aspx">IT Pro</category><category domain="http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/tags/Optimized+Desktop/default.aspx">Optimized Desktop</category><category domain="http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/tags/MDOP/default.aspx">MDOP</category></item><item><title>Tweakguides.com: Breath of Fresh Air</title><link>http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/2008/08/28/tweakguides-com-breath-of-fresh-air.aspx</link><pubDate>Thu, 28 Aug 2008 23:40:00 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">d5e57398-b9ef-4490-9955-07cbb4e4a80d:500961</guid><dc:creator>Chris Flores</dc:creator><slash:comments>36</slash:comments><wfw:commentRss xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/">http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/rsscomments.aspx?PostID=500961</wfw:commentRss><comments>http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/2008/08/28/tweakguides-com-breath-of-fresh-air.aspx#comments</comments><description>I finally got around to reading this juicy, albeit lengthy, Tweakguide.com article, &lt;A href="http://www.tweakguides.com/VA_1.html" mce_href="http://www.tweakguides.com/VA_1.html"&gt;Vista Annoyances Resolved&lt;/A&gt;, last night in which Koroush Ghazi takes an objective view of Windows Vista from inception to its current state. You see, like a lot of us, Koroush is tired of reading, in his (assuming he's a he) words, "what can only be described as a plethora of articles on Windows Vista, almost all of them repetitive, one-sided and of little practical use." The main driver of this type of FUD is the hunger for traffic. If sex sells on TV and in advertising, bashing Windows Vista sells on the internet. As the article points out this has resulted in what the &amp;nbsp;New York times coined as "blog stress" to refer to the never ending need to break company news and expose corporate blunders, mostly unsubstantiated. 
&lt;P&gt;So what I find refreshing about this article is, it attempts to provide a blow by blow of reviews and articles that reveal the good, the bad ... and the ugly. All of his claims and opinions are backed up by articles, reports, and data readily available to anyone with some time on their hands and is familiar with this thing called the Internet. For the conspiracy theorists out there, Microsoft has no relationship with Koroush beyond that fact that he uses our products. He includes a full disclaimer on page 3. &lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;Some of the "neat" stuff Koroush points out are things we are pretty proud of, especially the security enhancements in Windows Vista. There's been an ongoing debate whether or not it's actually better than XP. Koroush unearths some numbers:&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;&lt;I&gt;In a &lt;A href="http://blogs.zdnet.com/Bott/?p=505" mce_href="http://blogs.zdnet.com/Bott/?p=505"&gt;comparison&lt;/A&gt; of Vista and XP security advisories issued by Microsoft between November 2006 and July 2008, Windows XP had 64 advisories rated Critical or Important, whereas Vista had 33 of the same type. Similarly, comparing the advisories issued by Secunia in 2008 &lt;A href="http://secunia.com/product/22/?task=statistics_2008" mce_href="http://secunia.com/product/22/?task=statistics_2008"&gt;Windows XP&lt;/A&gt; had 35% of its advisories rated Highly Critical or above, compared with &lt;A href="http://secunia.com/product/13223/?task=statistics_2008" mce_href="http://secunia.com/product/13223/?task=statistics_2008"&gt;Windows Vista's&lt;/A&gt; 29%. In fact as of late August 2008 XP still shows 30 unpatched security advisories, the highest one rated Moderately Critical; Vista shows 2 unpatched security advisories, the highest one rated Less Critical.&lt;/I&gt;&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;There's also been some speculation that XP's adoption curve and reception was much faster and more favorable than Windows Vista.&amp;nbsp; We understand that people get tired of Microsoft constantly saying "Vista is great! Vista is selling like hot cakes!" (it is, by the way!), which is why it's great to see Koroush point out that there is evidence out there to demonstrate that Windows Vista is on the right track. It's also refreshing to see that Koroush kept an open mind and took the time to understand what normal adoption rates look like.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;&lt;I&gt;The above information is provided simply to demonstrate that Windows XP was subject to the exact same types of criticisms and concerns as Windows Vista, many of them totally baseless or sensationalist as we now know. It took roughly three years or more for XP to reach the point (SP2) where users began to start trusting it, and started blaming their errors and problems on things other than the OS itself. &lt;/I&gt;&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;He also outlines some very creative solutions to common issues he's noticed users may be hitting up against like slower than desired performance or&amp;nbsp;driver support. While we appreciate his efforts, we don't recommend or endorse the tweaks included in the article. &lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;Like I said, the article is long, but it's full of interesting information, tips and tricks for the PC users. And again, it's great to see that there is a cure for blog stress...&lt;/P&gt;&lt;div style="clear:both;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://windowsteamblog.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=500961" width="1" height="1"&gt;</description><category domain="http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/tags/Windows+Vista/default.aspx">Windows Vista</category><category domain="http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/tags/Featured+News/default.aspx">Featured News</category><category domain="http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/tags/Tweakguides.com/default.aspx">Tweakguides.com</category></item><item><title>Mojave: The Experiment Continues…</title><link>http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/2008/08/26/mojave-the-experiment-continues.aspx</link><pubDate>Wed, 27 Aug 2008 02:08:00 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">d5e57398-b9ef-4490-9955-07cbb4e4a80d:500894</guid><dc:creator>Chris Flores</dc:creator><slash:comments>29</slash:comments><wfw:commentRss xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/">http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/rsscomments.aspx?PostID=500894</wfw:commentRss><comments>http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/2008/08/26/mojave-the-experiment-continues.aspx#comments</comments><description>&lt;I&gt;I'm posting this on behalf of my colleague David Webster:&lt;/I&gt; 
&lt;P&gt;I'm David Webster --the guy "deep in the ranks" who dreamed up the Mojave Experiment. Today we updated the &lt;A href="http://www.mojaveexperiment.com/" mce_href="http://www.mojaveexperiment.com/"&gt;website&lt;/A&gt; with a few new videos, including sharing with you the fiercely debated demos that the participants were shown.&amp;nbsp; We encourage everyone to take a look at the videos, ask questions or air concerns (or even compliments). First I wanted to provide some context and clarify a few things.&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;It's been a couple weeks since we launched the Mojave Experiment, and the reaction in the blogosphere has been fascinating to watch. You should see my inbox - some of you really liked how the experiment helped you say "I told you so" to haters who'd just jumped on the bandwagon without trying for themselves. Others thought it was interesting but were skeptical about the validity of the project's methodology, and others still questioned our sanity (not the first time) for doing the experiment in the first place. There were lots of questions - some wondered if we rigged the results, cherry picked videos or even brought in actors to pose as consumers.&amp;nbsp; Fair enough. You &lt;I&gt;should&lt;/I&gt; be skeptical. After all, the basic message of the Mojave Experiment is &lt;B&gt;decide for &lt;I&gt;yourself&lt;/I&gt;&lt;/B&gt;.&amp;nbsp; In that spirit, don't take my word for it either.&amp;nbsp; Go ahead and check out the new site for answers to the most frequent questions we got over the last few weeks.&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;We've also heard from supporters loud and clear that we needed to do more marketing around Windows Vista to regular users, and that is exactly what we are doing with the Mojave Experiment. As we have discussed, we're working to get the Mojave message out to consumers through website updates, retail activities and ads on cable stations.&lt;B&gt; &lt;/B&gt;However, I do want to stress that while the Mojave Experiment &lt;I&gt;is&lt;/I&gt; part of Microsoft's broader effort to talk about the value of Windows Vista, it &lt;B&gt;is separate&lt;/B&gt; from the Crispin, Porter &amp;amp; Bogusky campaign you may have heard about in recent weeks. Stay tuned for more details on that one...for now I'm just here to discuss Mojave. &lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;Well, here's why we went ahead with Mojave in the first place. &lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;It should surprise no one that we believe Windows Vista today is a great product; it &lt;I&gt;may surprise some&lt;/I&gt; that most current Windows Vista customers agree. In fact, we researched satisfaction levels among existing Windows Vista customers - the survey found that nearly 9 of 10 (i.e. 89%) of customers are either satisfied or very satisfied with their Windows Vista experience. And, satisfaction is &lt;I&gt;increasing&lt;/I&gt; over time - customer sat level is 92% satisfied/very satisfied among those who bought Windows Vista during the last 6 months. More than 180 million Windows Vista licenses have been sold (as of June 30, 2008), and, as analysts have reported, corporate adoption rates are consistent with Windows XP rates in similar timeframes. So looking strictly at customer satisfaction and sales data, things are going very well for Windows Vista. &lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;At the same time, we recognize that noise in the market created by a vocal minority can discourage regular people from trying the product for themselves. We're confident these people would find a lot to like about Windows Vista if they spent &lt;I&gt;even 5-10 minutes taking a closer look&lt;/I&gt;. We wanted to confirm that hypothesis and see what happens when people get a second chance to make a first impression.&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;This led to the idea that led to the test that turned into the Mojave Experiment. And the hypothesis was confirmed when across the board, participants concluded that they needed to take another look before simply accepting what they'd heard. In fact, we had plans for a fun section of the site that highlighted any test subjects who didn't change their minds about Windows Vista. &lt;I&gt;But we didn't get any&lt;/I&gt;.&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;The Windows Vista operating system delivered big changes in security, performance and graphics capabilities. These were long-term changes designed to bring customers forward and they are paying off, but it's true they also created near-term pain for customers immediately following launch - notably, some applications and devices didn't work (or work well) on Windows Vista. The product has come a &lt;I&gt;long&lt;/I&gt; way since then. We and our partners have worked extremely hard to fix incompatibilities and optimize drivers for increased performance and stability. We shipped SP1 and countless other Windows Updates that have significantly improved Windows Vista over the last 18 months. &lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;Again, we know from lots of user and non-user data that the closer they look the more they will like it. We just needed to give them a &lt;I&gt;reason&lt;/I&gt; to take another look.&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;For a breakdown of the mechanics and results or just to see what's new, visit: &lt;A href="http://www.mojaveexperiment.com/"&gt;http://www.mojaveexperiment.com/&lt;/A&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;div style="clear:both;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://windowsteamblog.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=500894" width="1" height="1"&gt;</description><category domain="http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/tags/Windows+Vista/default.aspx">Windows Vista</category><category domain="http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/tags/Featured+News/default.aspx">Featured News</category><category domain="http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/tags/Windows+Vista+SP1/default.aspx">Windows Vista SP1</category><category domain="http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/tags/Mojave+Experiment/default.aspx">Mojave Experiment</category></item><item><title>Windows Vista Adoption Keeps Growing</title><link>http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/2008/08/25/windows-vista-keeps-growing.aspx</link><pubDate>Mon, 25 Aug 2008 23:13:00 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">d5e57398-b9ef-4490-9955-07cbb4e4a80d:500866</guid><dc:creator>Chris Flores</dc:creator><slash:comments>15</slash:comments><wfw:commentRss xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/">http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/rsscomments.aspx?PostID=500866</wfw:commentRss><comments>http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/2008/08/25/windows-vista-keeps-growing.aspx#comments</comments><description>There's been a steady amount of buzz around the ‘net recently about Windows Vista adoption, sparked by a blog post last week questioning Windows Vista adoption rates and most recently by some great number crunching by &lt;A href="http://blogs.computerworld.com/windows_vista_faster_adoption_than_xp" mce_href="http://blogs.computerworld.com/windows_vista_faster_adoption_than_xp"&gt;Computerworld&lt;/A&gt;. In light of the various claims, I thought I would offer up some perspective on Windows Vista deployment numbers ... and what experienced industry watchers, like Forrester and CDW, are saying about Windows Vista. 
&lt;P&gt;First, you've heard us say before that we've sold more than 180 million Windows Vista licenses (40 million of those in the last quarter alone) and that major enterprises like Continental Airlines, the United States Air Force, Virgin Megastores, Charter, Avanade, Eastman Chemical and PPG are deploying seats by the thousands (and in some cases by the tens of thousands).&amp;nbsp; That's still true. You can read about these and other Windows Vista deployments at &lt;A href="http://microsoft.com/casestudies"&gt;Microsoft.com/casestudies&lt;/A&gt;. &lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;Consistent with findings from other reputable sources, Forrester Research just published a &lt;A href="http://www.forrester.com/Research/Document/Excerpt/0,7211,46545,00.html"&gt;new report&lt;/A&gt; on enterprise OS adoption. According to the abstract: &lt;I&gt;"Forrester's month-on-month study of more than 50,000 of our clients' OS preferences confirmed that users are on track with enterprises' initial Windows Vista deployment plans. IT operations folks are at a critical inflection point and should deploy Windows Vista to: 1) stay current with Microsoft's and independent software vendors' (ISVs') support life cycles; 2) help minimize today's security, management, and productivity challenges; and 3) better position your business to eventually embrace "Windows 7," because Windows Vista investments will ultimately pay off with better compatibility for this next release." &lt;/I&gt;Even the &lt;A href="http://blogs.wsj.com/biztech/2008/08/22/windows-vista-coming-soon-to-your-work-computer/?mod=mod"&gt;Wall Street Journal&lt;/A&gt; is picking up on this and in his blog post over the weekend, Ben Worthen includes some nuggets from the report like: "between October 2007 and June 2008 the percentage of visitors running Vista climbed from 5% to 8.8%." Ben also says that "it's pretty safe to assume that the operating system's image problems with the general public will soon be a thing of the past."&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;What about the guys on the ground who are selling, installing and implementing Windows Vista?&amp;nbsp;Not surprisingly, they're seeing growing demand too.&amp;nbsp;For example, CDW, one of the nation's largest technology resellers and system integrators, found in their third Windows Vista Tracking Poll that Windows Vista is "gaining traction" in the business market, with 48 percent of respondents saying their organization is using or evaluating Windows Vista. That compares with 29 percent in CDW's February 2007 poll. You can check the &lt;A href="http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2008120405_btdownload18.html"&gt;Seattle Times&lt;/A&gt; commentary on this.&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;The chorus of industry commentators, analysts, partners and real enterprise users confirm what we already knew - businesses are buying, using and liking Windows Vista. If you haven't already, try it and decide for yourself. &amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;div style="clear:both;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://windowsteamblog.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=500866" width="1" height="1"&gt;</description><category domain="http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/tags/Windows+Vista/default.aspx">Windows Vista</category><category domain="http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/tags/Featured+News/default.aspx">Featured News</category><category domain="http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/tags/Adoption/default.aspx">Adoption</category></item><item><title>Windows Vista: A better investment for your investments</title><link>http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/2008/08/21/windows-vista-a-better-investment-for-your-investments.aspx</link><pubDate>Thu, 21 Aug 2008 23:32:00 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">d5e57398-b9ef-4490-9955-07cbb4e4a80d:500811</guid><dc:creator>Chris Flores</dc:creator><slash:comments>16</slash:comments><wfw:commentRss xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/">http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/rsscomments.aspx?PostID=500811</wfw:commentRss><comments>http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/2008/08/21/windows-vista-a-better-investment-for-your-investments.aspx#comments</comments><description>&lt;A href="http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/columnist/krantz/2008-08-21-investing-pcs-macs_N.htm" mce_href="http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/columnist/krantz/2008-08-21-investing-pcs-macs_N.htm"&gt;Interesting article&lt;/A&gt; in USA Today from Matt Krantz, the publication's financial markets reporter and an expert on online investing. Matt offers up an unbiased answer to a reader's question: &lt;I&gt;What's a better computer for online investing, a PC or a Mac?&lt;/I&gt; 
&lt;P&gt;Not surprisingly, Krantz advises that Windows Vista&lt;I&gt; &lt;/I&gt;PCs &amp;nbsp;win "&lt;B&gt;hands-down"&lt;/B&gt; over Macs for things like better software compatibility, better community support, IE and greater user productivity. And his fundamental point on cost should hit home for anyone (not just online investors) in the market for a new computer: &lt;/P&gt;
&lt;BLOCKQUOTE&gt;
&lt;P&gt;&lt;EM&gt;...For less than $500, you can buy a &lt;/EM&gt;&lt;A target=_blank href="http://www.shopping.hp.com/series/category/notebooks/CQ50Z_series/3/computer_store" mce_href="http://www.shopping.hp.com/series/category/notebooks/CQ50Z_series/3/computer_store"&gt;&lt;EM&gt;Compaq Presario CQ50Z laptop&lt;/EM&gt;&lt;/A&gt;&lt;EM&gt;. It comes with a 1.9 GHz dual-core processor, 1 gigabyte of memory, an Nvidia GeForce graphics card, 120 gigabyte harddrive and wireless networking. A capable machine by today's standards and more than adequate for an online investor, for less than $500. &lt;/EM&gt;&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;&lt;EM&gt;Now, let's see what's available from Apple. You'll need to spend at least $1,099 for a MacBook, which comes with the same memory and hard drive. The MacBook has a slightly faster microprocessor, 2.1 GHz, but you won't notice the difference if you're just Web surfing. &lt;/EM&gt;&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;&lt;B&gt;&lt;EM&gt;In this case, you save $600 that could be invested in stocks instead of sent to Cupertino...&lt;/EM&gt;&lt;/B&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;/BLOCKQUOTE&gt;
&lt;P&gt;For most people, a 156% price mark-up is too steep for admission to the club (and most people don't buy computers to join clubs anyway). Picking a Windows Vista PC over a Mac is no-brainer for business customers in particular - it's a smarter use of resources, offers hardware choice (something sorely lacking with Macs), and flexibility to use whichever applications make the most sense. &lt;/P&gt;&lt;div style="clear:both;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://windowsteamblog.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=500811" width="1" height="1"&gt;</description><category domain="http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/tags/Windows+Vista/default.aspx">Windows Vista</category><category domain="http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/tags/Featured+News/default.aspx">Featured News</category><category domain="http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/tags/Online+Investing/default.aspx">Online Investing</category><category domain="http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/tags/Investment/default.aspx">Investment</category><category domain="http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/tags/PC/default.aspx">PC</category><category domain="http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/tags/Matt+Krantz/default.aspx">Matt Krantz</category><category domain="http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/tags/USA+Today/default.aspx">USA Today</category></item><item><title>Video Demo: Identifying Security Vulnerabilities for Your Desktop Infrastructure</title><link>http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/2008/08/14/deploy-windows-vista-with-security-in-mind.aspx</link><pubDate>Thu, 14 Aug 2008 20:20:00 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">d5e57398-b9ef-4490-9955-07cbb4e4a80d:500678</guid><dc:creator>Baldwin Ng</dc:creator><slash:comments>14</slash:comments><wfw:commentRss xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/">http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/rsscomments.aspx?PostID=500678</wfw:commentRss><comments>http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/2008/08/14/deploy-windows-vista-with-security-in-mind.aspx#comments</comments><description>&lt;P&gt;Whether you are planning to deploy Windows Vista or already did, it is important that you keep security high on your list and make sure that all of your desktops are secured.&amp;nbsp; So, how do you know if your desktops have Windows Firewall settings turned off?&amp;nbsp; What if some desktops do not have Anti-Virus or Anti-Spyware software installed?&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;To quickly get an answer, please check out the new Security Center assessment feature that we have added to the &lt;A href="http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=111000" target=_blank&gt;Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit 3.1&lt;/A&gt; released in June.&amp;nbsp; It auto-generates a security assessment report on your existing desktops as part of the "Windows Vista hardware assessment" migration report.&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;A href="http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=67240b76-3148-4e49-943d-4d9ea7f77730&amp;amp;DisplayLang=en" target=_blank&gt;&lt;IMG src="http://windowsvistablog.com/photos/blog_photo_gallery/images/500682/original.aspx" mce_src="http://windowsvistablog.com/photos/blog_photo_gallery/images/500682/original.aspx"&gt;&lt;/A&gt; &lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;&lt;B&gt;What's Next?&lt;/B&gt;&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;Start identifying these security vulnerabilities today with a free download of the &lt;A class="" href="http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=111000" target=_blank mce_href="http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=111000"&gt;Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit&lt;/A&gt;.&amp;nbsp; You may also view the new &lt;A class="" href="http://video.msn.com/video.aspx?vid=d4b042f3-836b-4b80-8234-1f94a2466219" target=_blank mce_href="http://video.msn.com/video.aspx?vid=d4b042f3-836b-4b80-8234-1f94a2466219"&gt;&lt;B&gt;MAP Toolkit demo video&lt;/B&gt;&lt;/A&gt; and learn how to get the Security Center assessment report as well as the hardware compatibility assessment report for Windows Vista migration.&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;Cheers,&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;Baldwin Ng&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;Sr. Product Manager, Microsoft Solution Accelerators Team&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P mce_keep="true"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P mce_keep="true"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;
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