W00t!!~
A couple hours ago Microsoft ended the NDA embargo and made it publicly known that for those waiting on Vista SP1 there is light at the end of the tunnel. Currently in a small, private beta cycle it will be distributed to a wider audience in the coming weeks (Beta/RC forms) and will be officially released (RTM) during the first quarter of 2008. That's much later than the November release date some had speculated, but gives everyone a firmer expectation of when the security, stability, and performance updates will be in your hands, as well as what it includes.
The more notable enhancements include:
* EFI support for Vista x64 (BIOS alternative; requires hardware support)
* DirectX 10.1 support (requires hardware support)
* Bitlocker support for additional partitions beyond C:\ (Vista Enterprise/Ultimate only)
* Reduced battery consumption
* exFAT support for flash drives
For additional details you can check out Nick White's [MSFT] blog as well as this article from PC Magazine and this release from Cnet's own news.com. Let the discussion begin.
John

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