Redmond magazine is the authoritative, independent voice of the Microsoft IT community, and provides real-world technical, product, news, and industry information for experienced IT professionals working within a Windows platform computing environment.

Our readers are the decision drivers of the industry and include IT managers, network managers, network administrators and system administrators. These technology leaders establish and drive the technical goals of their organizations, buy and recommend specific solutions to achieve these goals, and manage the implementation, integration and maintenance of the technology.

Our editorial mission is to provide readers with the information, strategies, and behind-the-scenes insight into Microsoft and the Windows computing platform so they can make better informed decisions regarding their organizations IT infrastructure.

FEATURES

43 Making IT Social
The flood of social-networking technologies rushing into the enterprise is forcing IT to become still more flexible.

51 Process Automation for the People
Automating IT processes can help keep your staff focused on critical tasks, but starting a project involves inherently complex decisions.

60 Save Your E-Mail and Save Your World
E-mail archiving and storage that ensure compliance with regulatory standards continue to be an ongoing challenge.

Download Redmond Magazine, June 2008

PDF format, 17.6MB, 85Pages.

Cover Story: Vista SP1: That’s It?!

The hugely anticipated Service Pack 1 for Windows Vista hits the mark in some instances. In others—not so much. By J. Peter Bruzzese

When John Duggan installed the muchanticipated first Service Pack (SP) for Windows Vista on his laptop, he had no idea what a long ride he was in for. “It felt like it took forever,” says the frustrated account manager from New Jersey. Duggan’s frustration is shared by many others, most of whom would have welcomed the experience of having the installation taking forever. Many got an endless parade of blue screens, system restart loops and missing drivers.

SP1 is one hefty package. The 32-bit version weighs in at 434.5MB. The 64-bit version is a whopping 726.5MB. This first update for Microsoft’s latest and beleaguered operating system promises to address key feedback from customers—in five languages, no less.

The first install screen (see Figure 1, p. 36) might just break your spirit right off the bat. It says, “The installation might take an hour or more. Your computer will restart several times during installation.” That raised an eyebrow, and brought up several questions. I can install Vista in less than an hour. Why will this update take me so long? Why is it so large?

This is what many Vista users who have already installed SP1 have also pondered. Clearly, there are concerns that SP1 is not worth the trouble. Is that the case, or do the enhancement ends justify the frustrating installation means?

When I first downloaded Vista SP1, it seemed as if all the rumors were true. I could hear the voices of angry beta testers echoing in my mind, saying: “Don’t do it.” While not a panacea for all the complaints about Vista, SP1 certainly addresses most of the major concerns the user community has raised. Performance and reliability are two of the biggest issues SP1 addresses, and it does so fairly well. Overall, I believe it delivers on stabilizing Vista, and makes it more “enterprise-worthy” and ready to deploy for those organizations that invariably wait for that first Service Pack, despite the wait you may experience when you install SP1. ...

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