Windows Vista SP1 and Windows Server 2008 Go Gold
The 2008 launch wave is gaining momentum. Microsoft announced a few hours ago that both Windows Vista Service Pack 1 and Windows Server 2008 have been released to manufacturing.
Windows Vista service pack 1 will likely impact most users in the short term. At TiGra Networks, we've been actively involved in testing pre-release versions of Service Pack 1 on both 32- and 64-bit systems and we're pleased with the improved stability and performance. We'll be upgrading immediately and will be recommending the same to our customers running Windows Vista. No doubt there will be a lot of information circulating in the press over the next few days and not all of it will be accurate or fair, so we'll try to keep an eye on what people are saying and present our real-world experience here on the blog.
You can expect to see Service Pack 1 on Windows Update and on the Microsoft Download Centre in mid-March, with deployment by Automatic Updates beginning mid-April. TiGra Networks will deploy Service Pack 1 for our customers as part of the normal automatic update cycle.
Windows Server 2008 is the first of a slew of exciting product launches slated for 2008. Visual Studio 2008 is already shipping and we can still look forward to SQL Server 2008 with its new data types supporting binary documents and geographical data types. The implications here are obvious for applications like SharePoint with its document libraries and Graphical Information Systems. Later in the year, of primary interest to me and TiGra Networks' customers, we can look forward to Small Business Server 2008 codename "Cougar". We are currently beta testing Cougar under non-disclosure agreement and can't discuss it publicly yet, but I think I can safely say it is going to be as popular as its predecessor. Later in the year TiGra Networks will be hosting a series of "IT Surgeries" for local businesses and we'll be showing off SBS 2008 "Cougar" as soon as we possibly can.