Vista SP2, Windows Server 2008 SP2 go live

It's no longer a test: You can now apply Microsoft's complete updates to 32- and 64-bit versions of Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008, in the release-to-manufacturing form. If you've been testing the recent beta of Vista SP2, you will need to uninstall it first from the Programs and Features control panel. From the dialog box on your system, look for update number KB948465, choose that and click Uninstall.

UPDATE: You could run into a little problem if you installed Vista SP2 and then tried out vLite as a way to slim it down. Apparently some testers have issued complaints or feedback notices, and Microsoft has just issued a bulletin addressing their concerns: Apparently if you removed components from Vista SP2 Beta using vLite, you can't then uninstall those same components again prior to installing the SP2 RTM.

Internet Explorer 8 is not part of this Service Pack. That's not a change from before, though some individuals may rightly be skeptical. Following Microsoft's new policy regarding the marketing and distribution of its Web browser, IE8 is distributed separately.

News of the Service Pack's RTM release comes as Microsoft found itself correcting a holiday blunder, after having issued a bulletin that appeared in testers' inboxes saying that the Windows 7 beta program ends June 1. That's not quite right, as Brandon LeBlanc found himself stating very early this morning: On July 1, not June, the bi-hourly shutdown process for Windows 7 Beta 1 will begin -- meaning, each session will start timing itself for a two-hour maximum. Beta 1 will start completely shutting down on August 1. However, that's for Beta 1, not for the Windows 7 RC. That more updated build (7100) is still being distributed, and it will not start terminating itself in August like Beta 1.