Microsoft Pushes out Windows Vista SP2

The world might be waiting for Windows 7, but Microsoft has pushed Vista SP2 out the door for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008.

Microsoft might be getting ready to push Windows 7 out to the world soon, but the company is also keeping its current mainstream operating system up-to-date with Windows Vista Service Pack 2 (SP2). Vista SP2 will initially be offered as an optional update users can choose to install via Windows Update or direct download; eventually, SP2 will become and automatic update, although users will have to accept a EULA prior to installation. Both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Service Pack 2 are available for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008.

Microsoft is initially releasing the update in English, German, Spanish, Japanese, and French, with additional localizations due in the near future.

Service Pack 2 includes a number of hot fixes and security patches made to Windows Vista, and Windows Vista requires Vista Service Pack 1 before SP2 can be installed. (Server 2008 shipped with SP1 rolled in, so there’s no need to install SP1 in Server 2008.) New features in SP2 include support for recording to Blu-ray media, improvements to restoring Wi-Fi connections when waking from sleep, numerous application support fixes, an improved version of Windows Search, and removes the arbitrary limit of 10 half-open outbound TCP connections. Microsoft has released a FAQ with an overview of the changes.