Announcing Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 SP2 beta availability

grantkd — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 01:17:00 GMT

Today Microsoft announced the availability of Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 SP2 beta. The beta will be available for MSDN and TechNet subscribers on Tuesday, December 2 via the TechNet and MSDN download sites. On Thursday, December 4, Microsoft will make SP2 available to the broad public via TechNet.

Here is a list of improvements users can expect from Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista SP2.

Server:

Inclusion of Microsoft’s Hyper-V technology for Server
Backwards compatibility with Terminal Services licensing keys
Better manageability features with DFS/FRS console, and Storage Resource Manager (i.e.: Quota Filter and File Screening Filter)
Improved error reporting in DFSR to help identify incorrectly configured deployments which lead to failed replication
Updated power policy driving significant Power Management improvements

Desktop:

Inclusion of Windows Search 4.0 for improved indexing performance, broader indexing scenario inclusion, as well as new Group Policy integration for Windows Search
Integration of the Windows Vista Feature Pack for Wireless which contains Bluetooth v2.1 support, the most recent specification for Bluetooth wireless technology
Some graphics enhancement to reduce glitches when streaming high def content with specific hardware configurations
Setup & Deployment improvements to detect incompatible drivers blocking service pack installations
Provides a Service Pack Cleanup tool which helps restore the hard disk space by permanently deleting previous versions of files updated by SP2
Performance improvements when resuming from hibernate where a wireless connection is no longer available

Power Management improvements
Print Server and Spooler performance improvements for printers in Windows Vista and Server 2008

For more information, check out the Windows Team Blog, Windows Server Blog, and the TechNet home page.

Server and Tools Business News Bytes blog : SP2

Announcing Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 SP2 beta availability