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Vista Upgrades Available for Download [ap.google.com]SEATTLE (AP) — Microsoft Corp. posted a major package of updates and security fixes for its Windows Vista operating system for download starting Tuesday.
People whose PCs run the newest Microsoft operating system can use Microsoft's Windows Update tool or visit its Download Center Web site and download the free Service Pack 1. In some cases, computer users may need to download older updates before they'll be able to install SP1.
Many of the fixes contained in SP1 have already been released as part of regular monthly updates in the year since the operating system went on sale to consumers. Microsoft has said SP1 improves Vista's reliability, security and performance.
wait for a week or two and see how many people report things that are broken
It's funny that we all immediately assume the SP will cause more problems than it will fix. I guess it's just what we've come to expect from Microsoft.
Consider for a moment how much effort has gone into getting layouts to work in IE 6 by tens of thousands of webmasters worldwide. Then consider this, the whole operating system is quirky not just Internet Explorer with the result that millions of man hours are wasted getting code to work. For instance...
Icon handling is a case in point. Within a program, a single icon resource can contain multiple images (different size and color depth) but it's not possible to load a single multi-image object, each image has to be loaded individually if you want to draw the icon at different sizes. But, the really loopy thing is that if you simply load a 32-pixel image and assign it to a window handle (using one particular method only) the 16-pixel image is magically assigned too. In other words, although the API doesn't let you load multiple icon images in a single operation, it actually happens anyway behind the scenes.
I've spent the whole of today getting some advanced css stuff to work in XP/IE6. I switched to Vista/IE7 and found I'll have to spend another hour or so on this tomorrow, although it will now work in IE7 without javascript fudges. Oh yes, it all works fine without any dramas in Firefox and Opera!
Kaled.
[edited by: bill at 4:21 am (utc) on Mar. 20, 2008]
[edit reason] tidying up [/edit]
As I'm fairly sure that Vista will capture market share over time, I am disappointed that SP2 hasn't introduced simplifications aimed at productivity. Something like an 'NT compatibility mode' to enable commercial users to adopt it.
That's not everyone's experience though. There have been some reports of problems with SP1 since its general release. Microsoft has released a list of software that will have problems with SP1: [support.microsoft.com...] It may not be a bad idea to let other people be your guinea pigs to test this package out before you take the plunge.
I'm waiting for the weekend to do the other...it was an XP/Vista upgrade and might have other quirks.
[gtalbot.org...]
I spent several hours today analyzing bug 41. Eventually I came up up with a javascript fix and graceful failure if javascript is disabled. I think it's time someone started a campaign to persuade MS to ditch Internet Explorer altogether.
If anyone is interested, don't use div {position:fixed; overflow:auto/scroll} in IE7 when any element in the div uses something like {width:xx%} - an unstyled <hr> will have the same effect too.
Kaled.
