After months of testing and numerous betas and release candidates, Microsoft has finally approved the final press of Windows Vista Service Pack 2.

The new service pack offers bug fixes, a rollup of the updates released since Vista’s 2007 RTM, and a selection of new features:

• SP2 contains Blue tooth 2.1 feature pack supporting the most recent specification for Blue tooth technology.
• Ability to record data on Blu-Ray media.
• Adds Windows Connect Now (WCN) Wi-Fi Configuration to Windows Vista SP2.
• exFAT file system now supports UTC timestamps, which enables correct file synchronization across time zones.
• SP2 provides support for new form factors, such as ICCD/CCID. new form factor support –example USB form factor as opposed to PCMCIA).
• Support for the new VIA 64-bit CPU.

As a note, SP2 requires that the system be prepared with SP1 prior to installation.

Download: x86-32
Download: x86-64

Since the advent of Windows XP, it has been possible to customize the appearance of the Windows UI. Microsoft has never made this stunningly obvious, but users who happen to stumble upon the vast array of available shell styles often find one that’s more to their liking than the default UI. If you think Windows is in need of a visual pick-me-up, we’re serving up a selection of our favorites.

Before taking a crack at the visual styles below, make sure you patch your installation of Windows Vista with CodeGazer’s Vista Glazz utility. This will unlock the ability to install third-party themes that don’t carry the Microsoft stamp of approval.

Lastly, make sure you carefully follow the installation instructions provided by each author. Some shell styles may require you to take extra steps to ensure your installation matches the picture.

Curved by dimage

This slick theme offers Windows 7-style window borders with a Windows XP-inspired task bar that’s been purged of Vista’s orb. The alternative desaturated theme resurrects the orb and delivers the Curved theme in a palette of greys.

Image courtesy of DeviantArt user dimage

Windows 7 Style by giannisgx89

Windows 7 is receiving acclaim for its fresh reinterpretation of the Aero Glass style that debuted with Vista. The Windows 7 Style faithfully adapts the new theme for use in the OS where Aero got its start.

Image courtesy of DeviantArt user giannisgx89

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Development is well under way for Firefox 3.5, the next major version of the popular browser being prepared for 2010. At a recent developer forum, Mozilla software engineer Michael Conner questioned the need to support Windows 2000 and Windows XP’s early service packs.

Debate also swirled around dropping support for Windows XP entirely after citing the rich media capabilities of Windows 7 and Windows Vista. On the other hand, Mozilla’s Firefox Director Mike Beltzner seemed less than keen to either idea:

“Right now, the majority of our Windows users are still on XP, but I’m not sure it’s clear how many of those users have upgraded, or intend to upgrade, or in some cases are able to upgrade,” he said.

“And while I understand that the platform itself isn’t supported by Microsoft, I do think that keeping those XP users from being able to use Firefox will end up doing more harm (to them) than good, no matter what the intent.”

What are your thoughts? Should Mozilla kill support for Windows XP RTM, SP1, SP2 and Windows 2000?

There has been a tizzy brewing this week over the fact that Microsoft will allow users to downgrade Windows 7 to Windows XP well into 2010. The Mac zealots are abusing the discovery to extol the superiority of OS X and the Linux users are seeing it as an indictment of Windows 7 and a herald for the rise of Linux.

Newsflash: It’s nothing new.

In fact, the OS downgrade right is a continuation of a long-standing Microsoft policy written into the agreement for volume license customers like OEMs and the enterprise. Anyone with the green to purchase a massive block of keys is given some latitude to match the installed OS to the standard design of their network.

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Anyone looking to get their guinea pig on will be pleased to learn that the release candidate for Windows Vista SP2 has been dumped into the public space by Microsoft.

The addition of select new features joins a host of bug fixes that are being prepared for the final release:

• SP2 contains Blue tooth 2.1 feature pack supporting the most recent specification for Blue tooth technology
• Ability to record data on Blu-Ray media,
• Adds Windows Connect Now (WCN) Wi-Fi Configuration to Windows Vista SP2,
• exFAT file system now supports UTC timestamps, which enables correct file synchronization across time zones.
• SP2 provides support for new form factors, such as ICCD/CCID. new form factor support –example USB form factor as opposed to PCMCIA).
• Support for the new VIA 64-bit CPU

As a note, SP2 requires that the system be prepared with SP1 prior to installation.

Download: x86-32
Download: x86-64
Download: ISO Image
Download: Patch for WUAU update

Vista Services Optimizer is another robust tweaking utility for Windows Vista. The program pops Vista’s hood and gives the user access to all sorts of tweaks buried deep within the heart of the Windows registry. While the program is primarily oriented towards disabling or modifying services, there are many other performance boosters on tap as well.

In the ongoing lawsuit concerning users feeling duped by Microsoft’s “Vista Capable” stickers, federal judge Marsha Pechman has decided to strip the suit of its class action status.

The recent decision has no doubt brought relief to a Microsoft which stood to lose millions in the wake of successful execution by the plaintiffs. Microsoft must now be willing to treat with individual lawsuits, but we’re rather of the belief that the number of angry people has suddenly shrunk.

Pechman’s ruling (PDF) cites insufficient evidence for class action status, but reserved the notion that Vista Capable stickers could have been misleading. “At this juncture, the Court believes the most appropriate remedy for Plaintiffs’ failure to present evidence suggesting class-wide causation is decertification,” she wrote. “The question is … whether Microsoft’s use of the ‘Vista Capable’ designation had the capacity to deceive.”

The case has been in the courts since 2007 when incensed users claimed that the December ‘06 “Vista Capable” campaign produced systems that may have been unprepared to run Media Center or Aero.

After announcements that Vista’s SP2 beta would enter RC status in February and launch to RTM in April, it looks like the timeline may have been pushed back by a month.

It looks like Microsoft has delayed the release of their release candidate and RTM builds by a month. Replacing the original release candidate build is something they call a “release candidate escrow build”. An escrow build means that “code development has ceased as developers and beta testers hunt for recall-class bugs. The escrow code is considered the release-to-manufacturing code”.

As of right now, it appears that Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista will receive their second service pack in early June of this year.

Set to shove off the mortal coil in July of 2009, the price of a Windows XP upgrade from Windows Vista Ultimate or Business editions has tripled from $50 to $150.

Dell has announced that the increase pricetag has taken effect immediately and will remain such until XP is no longer available in the summer of ‘09. This increased upgrade price comes just five month after the end of Windows XP as a standard option on their popular Inspiron line.

The first beta of Windows Vista SP2 has just been released to the public via Microsoft’s Customer Preview Program.

Microsoft blogger Mike Nash reminds us that this CPP release is a way for enthusiasts and professionals to do compatibility testing in advance of SP2’s release date. “The CPP is intended for technology enthusiasts, developers, and IT Pros who would like to test Service Pack 2 in their environments and with their applications prior to final release,” he said.

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On December 4, the first beta of Windows Vista SP2 will be available to the public via Microsoft’s Customer Preview Program.

The newly-minted SP2 beta is said to contain a myriad of changes that are a result of both discretionary error reporting and the desire to support new hardware standards.

In focusing on the provision of new features, Microsoft hopes to express confidence in the stability of the Vista platform. An update posted to the Windows team blog by Microsoft developer Mike Nash reinforced this point by saying that SP2 builds on the solid foundation of Windows Vista SP1.

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We know you guys like to tweak and tune the hell out of everything, so why stop at Windows Vista’s user interface? Thanks to a shiny find by the lads at Lifehacker, we’re goin’ lockstep to make Ultimate Windows Tweaker our download of the day.

It’s 370KB, it’s portable, it has over 130 tweaks. That’s bloat-free music to our ears.