You may recall that when Server 2008 was released, it was already at the Service Pack 1 version. This indicated that Microsoft was serious about aligning the Longhorn operating systems, because Vista SP1 was released at about the same time. Now, we’re coming up on Service Pack 2, which is presently in beta, and due for release in the “first half” of 2009. So, what’s in SP2, and how excited should we be about it? First, the product includes a number of application compatibility fixes, which are always welcome but may or may not affect you if your apps already work fine with SP1. Hardware support includes Bluetooth v2.1 (which probably won’t interest server admins) and support for writing to Blu-Ray media (which may, if you’re using optical discs as part or all of your backup regime). Microsoft claims minor improvements in power savings (again, not all that interesting in the server space.) And Microsoft is including all of its previously released patches and updates, including Windows Search 4.0, which I’ve blogged about in this space, and the “gold” version of Hyper-V. I don’t know about you, but I’m underwhelmed. For most folks, there seems to be very little reason to rush to install SP2, especially if you’ve been keeping up with Microsoft’s updates all along. It looks to me like a convenience update for quickly patching new machines that ship with SP1. You can obtain a copy of the Longhorn SP2 betas by enrolling in the Corporate Preview Program. Details are available at the following site: http://technet.microsoft.com/windows/dd262148. The only languages available are English, German, French, Spanish, and Japanese. Prerequisites include SP1 (easy to fulfill if you’re using Server!) and the KB955430 update to the “servicing stack” of the installer code. The SP2 beta software expires on May 1, 2010 and is not in-place-upgradeable to the final SP2 release. Recent Posts
Longhorn Service Pack 2
Analysis
Dec 27, 20082 mins
