Surely there’s more to Vista SP1?
Actually, yes. In addition to the obvious functional changes listed above, Vista SP1 includes a number of low-level changes that improve the overall Vista experience in a number of ways. These include: Device compatibility is up dramatically, from a bit over 40,000 compatible devices to just under 80,000 devices today with SP1. The number of logoed devices–devices that are certified by Microsoft to work properly with Vista–is also up dramatically, from about 2000 at launch to over 17,000 today. Microsoft director Chris Flores pointed out to me that the improvements to Vista’s drivers aren’t limited to sheer numbers, either: Improvements to video, audio, and other drivers have actually improved the battery life on laptops from several major PC makers by an average of 7 percent. Application compatibility, too, improves significantly with SP1. While this area includes consumer-oriented applications, incompatible enterprise applications were the big deployment blockers over the past year.
