Commentary: Windows Vista Service Pack 1 is now available and some are saying SP1 improves Vista's general meh-diocrity, while others are saying it's not all that.
We're inclined to agree with the later group. Microsoft's done a decent job with Vista SP1, but it could have done so much more. Don't give us that rubbish about it only being an incremental improvement -- Microsoft threw so much into XP SP2 that it was virtually a whole new operating system.
With that in mind, we've come up with a bunch of things we think should have been included with Vista SP1, and things that could help improve the Windows Vista user experience on the whole.
Multiple Desktops
You get it in Ubuntu, you get it in OS X Leopard, so why can't you get it out of the box with Windows Vista? The ability to have multiple desktops or spaces, each themed with a specific set of application types that can help improve productivity and reduce the amount of clutter. Nobody likes to have a desktop full of icons, and nobody likes trawling their mental Rolodex to remember where they left something. You wouldn't eat, sleep and wash in the same room, so why treat your PC's desktop in the same way?
Better Flip 3D
Flip 3D provided the 'wow' factor Microsoft needed to make Vista interesting. But now all the hype has died down, it's clear that nobody uses the thing. Why bother, when Alt-Tab works better anyway? The problem with Flip 3D is that it can only show a limited number of windows at any one time. Plus the windows at the rear of the flip stack are virtually useless, since you can only see 20-25 percent of the window. We think we've probably used Flip 3D twice. Once was to take a screen shot of it in action, and the other was to impress a girl.
Better file previews
Microsoft got it half right with its file-preview system. Vista lets you preview some of the contents of a sub-directory by placing thumbnails on the directory icon. Different file types have different icons. But is that the best they could do? If there was some way of previewing documents before you open them, a la Leopard's QuickLook feature, we'd be less likely to open the wrong document by mistake and we wouldn't clog up our 'recent items' list with things we never meant to open.
Visual backup/restore
Why Microsoft gave us such a half-baked solution for such an important area is beyond us. Yes, Vista lets us create backups of our entire PC, or even just files we specify, but that's really not enough in this day and age. Anyone who's spent 3 hours on the phone to their grandmother trying to explain how to recover a lost file will tell you how inadequate the current solution is. How about a visual representation of the state of your computer on any given day? How about the ability to recover lost files just by typing in a search term? How about accessing lost files directly from the application you last viewed them in? How about ripping off the Time Machine feature in Apple's Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard? There's no shame in it.
Some speed, already!
We've always been concerned about some aspects of Vista's performance. We've learned that file copying and networking can be painfully slow, so we were rather hoping Vista SP1 would speed things up a bit. And it does -- sorta, kinda, ish. But not really. CNET.com's lab monkeys have learned that moving files around on the same hard drive is a teeny bit quicker, but writing files to an external hard drive is notably slower with SP1. Boot up and shut down times were about the same and battery life in laptops was virtually identical, too. Call us greedy, but we were expecting more. Vista was supposed to have started the 'wow' not the 'meh', remember?
For those of you out there who have upgraded, do you agree or disagree? Did Vista SP1 deliver more or less than you expected? Please share your experiences with us below!
Tommyjon
26/03/2008 03:27 PM
I installed Vista SP1, and my DVD burner stopped working, my Vista certified Canon MP600 stopped working, my audio stopped working. It took me 6 hours to get back a working system. I still have "cannot find the drivers" issue every time I boot up and in the device drivers there are "!", but everything seem to work. Microsoft really have stuffed the SP1 update and I now hate Vista!
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Tommyjon
26/03/2008 03:28 PM
I installed Vista SP1, and my DVD burner stopped working, my Vista certified Canon MP600 stopped working, my audio stopped working. It took me 6 hours to get back a working system. I still have "cannot find the drivers" issue every time I boot up and in the device drivers there are "!", but everything seem to work. Microsoft really have stuffed the SP1 update and I now hate Vista!
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Blah
26/03/2008 04:57 PM
i guess i might have been one of the lucky ones who had no problems at all (yet) after installing sp1. but honestly, i notice no change at all after the sp1 installation
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gargoyle007
26/03/2008 05:14 PM
i installed it and now my 3 month old external hard drive works intermittently, and have trouble getting my ipod connected, i'm desperately hoping that SP1 did something to my usb drives, rather than both my hard drive and ipod both deciding to spazz out at once. i got no idea what to do about it tho....
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Blaster
26/03/2008 06:43 PM
I installed SP1 on my 64 bit ultimate. My CPU dual core intel is running crazy its utilizing like 50% plus resources on idle huh...fan going nuts....Service Pack 1 is a job poorly done.
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Stu
27/03/2008 11:48 AM
I downloaded it and it knock out my Wireless internet connection. I restored to a point prior to the download and my connction was OK. A couple of days later I tried it again with exactly the same result. I'm next going to 'upgrade' when hell freezes over.
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Megarath1
27/03/2008 05:10 PM
well hopefully Microsoft puts some effort into the next service pack which should be their main priority (not trying to market a shotty product first), and they better do it bloody soon!
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Megarath1
27/03/2008 05:12 PM
well hopefully Microsoft puts some effort into the next service pack which should be their main priority (not trying to market a shotty product first), and they better do it bloody soon!
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jamesnorman93
27/03/2008 07:04 PM
Mine was fine and it got a massive boost!!! i think sp1 reninit itself, it resets some stuff like the "default sound card"
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Camera man
27/03/2008 10:54 PM
I have no problem with service pack 1, although it doesn't fix my hardware incompatible issue; which makes my computer cannot start up sometimes. Microsoft should focus on hardware incompatibles and other main issues rather than just fasten it up. Hopefully SP2 can see some real efforts.
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Daw
28/03/2008 06:27 AM
The only problem I have with SP1 is that when I put my PC to sleep it doesn't shut down. The Screen goes off but the HD light stays on and the power light remains blue whereas before it shut off to yellow
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Mark
28/03/2008 06:51 PM
I've got a MacBook and I installed Vista SP1 through my boot camp partition, i haven't had a problem with it, although I didn't notice a difference in speed or performance. I think Cnet was right, what a let down.
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Old Geek
31/03/2008 09:41 PM
My PC boots up & shuts down much faster with Vista SP1. It hasn't crashed yet either (unlike initial offering) so they must have got something right.
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jasbry069
31/03/2008 10:43 PM
I gotta say, I love Microsoft. I love the fact they completely stuffed vista, I love the way they have forced me to go to a mac and I love the way ubuntu 7.10 runs on my pc. Keep up the great work Microsoft!! These issues everyone discribes are what ive been battling for years now and I finally had enough about a year ago. Another thing they forgot to fix is the need to call MS every time you change a hard drive or install new ram to re-activate windoze. Yet another + for Unix based systems!
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KXL
01/04/2008 09:01 AM
Looking at items you want, I have the answer. Buy a Mac!! best thing ever. With prices of Mac these days cheaper and able to run Windows if you need, its a win win.
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freakking250
03/04/2008 01:19 PM
MY dvd burner stoped working about a week before sp1. i installed sp1 it still does not work. after sp1 my autoplay does not work, i see nothing pop up when i put in my flash drive dvd,cd,games,ect. i was hoping it would resolve most of the compatibility issues with vista nope it doesent. it is now a little bit slower in some stuff not all. i think that microsoft could have done a better job at making sp1.
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MasterChiefLoser
10/04/2008 04:01 PM
I'm enjoying the little headaches that installing Ubuntu is causing me... Fun to solve and since I didn't pay my left arm and right big toe for the rubbish that is Vista - I really don't care! How many people would buy a product of ANY description and put up with this rubbish.
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joninnz
16/04/2008 05:45 PM
SP1 practically crippled my computer. The graphics driver stopped working, software started running slower, copying to my external drive takes forever, and on top of all this it refuses to be uninstalled! The biggest piece of malware on my system right now is SP1.
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camel
19/04/2008 12:34 AM
LOl okay i have only a few things to say about this... If you have a slow pc... Not even service pack1 is going to make it better. So buy a new pc and stop complaining you NOOBS! No wonder it's all running slow! Sp1 fixes a lot of issues. Yes of curse you can't see any visual difference! Can you see any in win xp sp1 and sp2? No you can not **** go complain somewhere else! Sp1 fixes a lot of issues and there is no downside to it!
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NO VISTA!!
21/04/2008 05:22 PM
Vista is **** It screwed my hard drive up completely. vista has screwed up my bios and dos. yes mac OS X and ubuntu are better. ur better off with XP. i was a big fan of it when i got it, but now its screwed up everything. so dont say vista is good. they rushed it out too fast. the things they fixed in SP1 should have been released in the beta testings not now.
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Jive Turkey
29/04/2008 11:08 PM
What the? New features in a SERVICE pack? That's an upgrade Mr. Reid!
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