Vista Service Pack One Beta due soon.

[ahhaa]

Its big:

For the beta release, you’ll need 7GB of free disk space to install the x86 version and 12GB of free disk space for the x64 package.

Its mostly bandaids:

The new stuff includes bug fixes, bug fixes, and more bug fixes, plus new drivers. SP1 is slated to include some updated administration tools (including improvements to the BitLocker Drive Encryption interface and to Remote Desktop capabilities). It also will add support for some new hardware standards, including boot capability on Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI) machines and a new file system (exFAT) for flash drives and other removable media.

It'll be a while:

According to the press release, “Microsoft is targeting first quarter of 2008 for Windows Vista SP1 but will collect customer feedback from our upcoming beta process before setting a final date.”

much more at: http://blogs.zdnet.com/Bott/?p=291

[JohnnyMalaria]

For information from the horse's mouth, get Microsoft's very own whitepaper on the subject - free! [slight sarcasm here]

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=090deaf6-2eaa-4aaa-8b3b-2e199...displaylang=en

(Page has links to PDF and XPS formats)

[valvehead]

Its big:

For the beta release, you’ll need 7GB of free disk space to install the x86 version and 12GB of free disk space for the x64 package.

I'm sorry but I have to laugh at that. My entire XP Pro SP2 installation plus all of my program files adds up to less than that! What a bloated beached whale of an OS Vista is.

[ahhaa]

Dave, I gotta agree... when DSL or Puppy provides a functional OS & desktop - with apps - in the 70 meg range, you gotta wonder what kinda code these M$ boys write- its gotta be longhorn, errr, longhand.

[jagabo]

Speaking of service packs and stuff, did you guys notice Autopatcher.com has been taken down?

http://www.autopatcher.com/