Upgrade to Vista SP1? Not if you dual boot you don't.

Here's your weekly public service announcement: That sucking noise you hear is from Redmond, where Microsoft engineers have short-sighted the implementation of SP1 for Vista [apcmag].

One of those necessary bug swats in the service pack does an integrity check that rummages around the bootloader. If your bootloader has been replaced, i.e. with a Linux dual boot that uses Grub, then Vista SP1 will fail its integrity check and the service pack will not proceed. So, If you’re dualbooting Windows Vista Enterprise or Ultimate alongside a Linux distro, and have installed the Linux bootloader into the MBR, then you’re guaranteed to run into problems when installing Vista Service Pack 1

Thanks, Microsoft. Thanks for nothing. Some people really get a kick out of the new graphical interface, but the rest of us can't run it on our machines without a hardware upgrade. I'm not running Vista. I nearly experimented with it, toying with the fun of learning the pitfalls versus the frustration of climbing back out of them, and it would have been in a dual-boot configuration.

I'm glad I went Linux instead.

Vista SP1 Released Tomorrow?

So the long awaited day is finally upon us......

The release of Vista SP1 is secretly set to be released tomorrow March 18th, and the world will have its answer to the question "does Vista truly suck?" My personal hope is that the answer will be "NO", considering that I'm writing on a Vista laptop right now. Some of the criticizing that it has gotten is unwarranted, with some people thinking it's fashionable just to hate anything that's Microsoft. But some of it is, with the long delay before it was release coupled with expensive hardware upgrades, and multiple versions that only confused the consumer certainly put it behind the 8 ball. So what changes must be made for Vista to rebound from the "You suck" land that it's been dwelling in? With so many people thinking that Vista isn't any good, has perception become reality?

What must SP1 have to fix Vista?

Can it be fixed?

Does anyone still care?

[Engadget]

Vista RC1 To Come Sooner Than Expected!

Well, as someone who "wants to believe" that Vista can be a great product, I am excited to hear that any of us can get a release candidate the 2nd week of December. The other good new from ZDNet's Mary Jo Foley is that we aren't going to have to wait till mid 2008 for SP1; it's coming out early 1st quarter 2008. Well at least that's where Microsoft is aiming. Check it out.

Vista SP1, Faster And Smoother: Well I Hope So!

Some details are out about Windows Vista SP1 that is still in beta, and for early adopters of the OS, it's good news. The new update for Vista will increase system performance considerably, and will also fix annoying bugs that have plagued the OS since launch.

Wasn't Microsoft promising these same things before the launch of Vista? Oh well....

James Bannan from APC Magazine said “there is a very noticeable performance increase…There’s far less hard drive thrashing and in general the system seems much smoother and more responsive.”

It also will have a “Create a Recovery Disc” that will allow you to create a system restore DVD. Still no word on when the release of this update will finally hit the streets, but I hope soon.

LEAKED: Vista SP1 analysed in-depth [APC Magazine via Crunchgear]

No Vista SP1 Until 2009?

I know that this is a dirty rumor that has no flip'n chance of being real, at least for Microsoft's sake it better not be.

But the rumors are that Microsoft will not release SP1 for Vista until 2009 at the earliest. Valleywag.com reported that “Microsoft has apparently told executives at one of the world’s largest PC makers not to expect a formal release of Windows Vista SP1 — the first major set of upgrades and bug fixes to its Vista operating system — until 2009 at the earliest.”

It might explain the comments today from Gianfranco Lanci who is the CEO of Acer. If this is true, I'm starting to think that Microsoft deserves some of the fun that Apple pokes at them.

This is just bad. [Valleywag.com via Crunchgear]