February 27, 2009

Microsoft has announced the Release Candidate for Windows Vista Service Pack 2. The second Vista Service Pack will be available publicly via TechNet next week. This update will add support for newer hardware and emerging standards states Brandon LeBlanc, Microsoft's windows communications manager in a post on official Windows Team Blog.

The much awaited Windows Vista Service Pack 2 release candidate aims to improve compatibility for non-Microsoft applications, system performance, support for new hardware and reliability. Some of the changes include more non-Microsoft applications compatibility with Windows Vista after this Service Pack 2 update.

The Vista SP 2 RC will include improved Windows Search 4.0 with better indexing and search relevance. Windows Media Center will have a better content protection for TV, smells like stronger DRM for TV-based content. Application compatibility can be increased through a registry key change that will allow increasing the maximum number of TCP connections

In terms of new hardware support, the Service Pack 2 RC adds Blu-ray media writing ability. For wireless connectivity, the new Feature Pack for Wireless brings support for recent Bluetooth v2.1 as per its specifications and Windows Connect Now for Wi-Fi configuration. It also provides improved Wi-Fi connection performance when system resumes from Sleep mode.

Standalone installer for 32-bit Windows Vista systems will be of 302MB and will contain five language packages. While for 64-bit Vista systems, the standalone installer would be of 508MB.

When exactly Vista Service Pack 2 Release Candidate would be available was not disclosed. The final version of Vista Service Pack 2 is expected in the second quarter 2009.