Vista SP2

Windows Vista Service Pack 2 is set to be released as a public beta version Thursday, Microsoft has confirmed. The program, which has been under limited testing since October, will become available on the Microsoft TechNet site. Here's what you need to know before making the upgrade.

Forget Windows Vista Service Pack 1,Service Pack 2 is here already. Well, at least the Beta build. In the second half of October 2008, Microsoft delivered the first taste of Vista SP2 to a small pool of customers, as an integral part of the service pack's Technology Adoption Program. Starting on December 2, the Redmond company has broadened the Beta for the second service pack for Vista.

Microsoft is continuing to broaden the pool of Windows Vista Service Pack 2 (SP2) testers beyond the fairly small, select group who’ve been working with test builds for the past few months.

From the other side of the world comes a report that Windows Vista Service Pack 2 will be released to manufacturing in April 2009, roughly a year after SP1. The Malaysian website TechARP has a pretty good track record with this sort of prediction, and my sources tell me that schedule sounds about right.

Microsoft is laboring to serve Service Pack 2 for Windows Vista a little over a year after the availability of Service Pack 1, beating Windows 7 to the market.

Vista's upcoming Service Pack 2 release gets updated from 105 to 113. The list of changes is still locked in the vaults at Microsoft, but expect refinements and additions to hardware support, and stability.