So what does this mean? Over the next few months Microsoft will automatically distribute Windows Vista SP1 to PCs that have automatic updates turned on (Learn how to turn on automatic updating) and running English, French, German, Spanish, or Japanese via Windows Update. Automatic distribution will only occur, according to user settings, on PCs ready for SP1. After Windows Vista SP1 downloads, WU will let you know that "new updates are available." You'll then be asked to make a few clicks before the installation of SP1 will begin. 

While we're beginning automatic distribution today, you might not see it right away since the distribution process is very gradual.  As I called out on April 7th, we'll be distributing the service pack slowly so that we can help Windows users have a good experience. 

As I posted above, we made the remaining languages of SP1 available for manual install on the Microsoft Download Center and Windows Update last week.  We'd like to let those of you running one of those languages that we'll plan to start automatic distribution of those languages sometime in mid-May.

We hope you enjoy the many improvements that have been made in Windows Vista Service Pack 1 and are excited to start automatic distribution so more of you can begin experiencing the benefits.

Read more at: http://windowsvistablog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/2008/04/23/automatic-distribution-of-windows-vista-sp1-begins-today.aspx

• German
• English
• Spanish
• French
• Japanese
• Korean
• Bulgarian
• Czech
• Danish
• Greek
• Estonian
• Finnish
• Hungarian
• Italian
• Lithuanian
• Latvian
• Norwegian
• Dutch
• Polish
• Portuguese (Portugal)
• Romanian
• Slovak
• Slovenian
• Swedish
• Arabic
• Hebrew
• Croatian
• Portuguese (Brazil)
• Serbian (Latin)
• Thai
• Turkish
• Ukrainian
• Chinese (Simplified)
• Chinese (Traditional)
• Russian

For more information on the Language Packs, click here.

Read more at: http://windowsvistablog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/2008/04/22/updated-language-packs-released.aspx

Windows Sound Schemes is a pack of 2 new sound schemes for Windows Vista: Glass and Pearl. For more details on the Windows Sound Schemes - click here. Brandon tells me his favorite sound scheme is the Glass scheme.  

Windows DreamScene Content Pack #3 brings you 3 new DreamScenes for your Windows Vista desktop. For more information on Windows DreamScene - click here. Here is a small preview of the new DreamScenes in Content Pack #3:

And be sure you keep your eyes on UltimatePC.com for more Ultimate Extra news in future as well as hot Ultimate Exclusives for Windows Vista Ultimate users.

Read more at: http://windowsvistablog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/2008/04/22/new-ultimate-extras-released.aspx

In Origami Central, the browsing experience is tied to the toolbar that auto-hides at the top of the window.

Because the toolbar auto-hides, I get a full screen web browsing experience and with a UMPC running at 1024x600 resolution without toolbars and other things taking up useful screen real-estate.

Just like in IE7, I can use the address bar in Origami Central to do web searches. But in Origami Central, when I type something in the address bar (a phrase or URL), it searches through the history of websites I have already visited. I typed in "windows" into the address bar and these 3 previously visited websites came up:

To do web searches, Origami Central provides a really unique way of searching the web using Live Search. When I type in a search term, it provides a list of popular searches that change depending on the term of course. It also provides previous searches I've made.

Basic functionality for web browsing such as adding favorites also exists in Origami Central. In the toolbar, when I click the gadget-looking icon a list of options appears over the website I am on. Those options allow me to add the site to my favorites (which uses the same favorites as IE), add the site's RSS to my RSS feeds, take a snapshot of the site, or use the zoom capabilities.

When I take a snapshot of a website, it takes a complete "freeze" of the page I am at. I can go back to that site and read the site or access links etc. I can even scroll down to view other parts of the site (as long as it's on the same page of course).

My favorites, history, and snapshots are all available in my "Library" by clicking the star icon in the toolbar.

Origami Central also has touch capabilities as well but I think perhaps my demo video will be better at showcasing that feature (as well as the above mentioned features of web browsing in Origami Central. Take a look!

Web Browsing with Origami Central

In the demo video, I utilize the touch capabilities in Origami Central to navigate Photosynth from Microsoft Live Labs. You can also see the overall experience of browsing the web via Origami Central first hand.  I apologize in advance for some parts of the video (like where it sounds like I said "stylist" instead of stylus).

Stay tuned for Part 2 in which I discuss the new RSS capabilities in Origami Experience 2.0 with Origami Central.

Read more at: http://windowsvistablog.com/blogs/windowsexperience/archive/2008/04/30/origami-experience2-0-part-1-web-browsing.aspx

Download: Windows Speech Recognition Macros Technical Preview

These Macros can perform a single task or a series of tasks. These tasks can be very complex using custom JScript/VBScript actions or as simple as inserting your email address someplace.

You can send feedback on Windows Speech Recognition Macros to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it . Your questions and comments will help make Windows Speech Recognition Macros even better!

Read more at: http://windowsvistablog.com/blogs/windowsexperience/archive/2008/04/25/check-out-windows-speech-recognition-macros.aspx

The Origami Experience 2.0 software comes with 3 applications that do specific tasks on the UMPC. I'll give a quick overview of these applications in which I'll go into greater detail in my 4 part series of posts about the Origami Experience 2.0.

Origami Central:

Origami Central provides quick access to your Media Library on your UMPC. That means your music, photos and videos. Origami Central lets you play your music, watch your videos and watch photo slideshows. On top of letting you access your media, it also gives you quick access to favorite programs on your UMPC like Microsoft Office OneNote 2007. In the Origami Experience 2.0 - Origami Central comes with a brand new browsing experience. You can now browse the web using Origami Central is full-fidelity web browsing - 100% compatible with IE7. That means you can browse sites that use Flash and other ActiveX controls. It also comes with a RSS feed reader also new to this release.

Origami Now:

Origami Now is a brand new application for the UMPC with the release of Origami Experience 2.0. It is designed to bring you information useful to you very quickly without much interaction. It does this by giving you the ability to customize "tiles". You can navigate between these tiles and their information. What kind of information can be in the tiles? You can configure tiles for weather, email, RSS and more. 

Origami Picture Password:
You can use Origami Picture Password to login to your UMPC.

I'm using the Samsung Q1 Ultra UMPC to run the Origami Experience 2.0 on (exact model number and specs here). It works wonderfully for me.

So I've broken up my 4 part series on the Origami Experience 2.0 software into the following parts:

Origami Experience2.0 Part 1: Web Browsing
Origami Experience 2.0 Part 2: RSS
Origami Experience 2.0 Part 3: Media
Origami Experience 2.0 Part 4: Origami Now

Expect part 1 soon!

Read more at: http://windowsvistablog.com/blogs/windowsexperience/archive/2008/04/25/taking-a-closer-look-at-the-origami-experience-2-0.aspx

As we get close to the business availability of Windows Vista, we'll want to provide more information specifically for IT professionals to help them get ready for their Windows Vista deployments.  To help out, one of my teammates, Alex Heaton, will become a regular contributor here on the blog, focusing on issues that impact organizational IT professionals (IT pros) and decision-makers who plan how and when to deploy Windows Vista in their organizations.  Previously, Alex has been managing the Windows Vista Security and User Account Control blogs.  Alex’s first post will be the initial in a series about upcoming events that will help IT pros get ready for Windows Vista.

Read more at: http://blogs.technet.com/windowsvista/archive/2006/10/10/New-IT-and-Business-Blogger.aspx

Windows Mobile Program Manager Mel Sampat tells us that Windows Mobile Device Center (Beta 3) is finally here for Public Download for Windows Vista RC1 and higher.

Head over to the Windows Mobile Device Center webpage at Microsoft.com to download!

Read more at: http://blogs.technet.com/windowsvista/archive/2006/10/06/Windows-Mobile-Device-Center-for-Windows-Vista-Now-Available.aspx

Today, Microsoft is excited to announce the availability of Windows Vista RC2 to Technical Beta Testers, TAP Testers, and MSDN/TechNet subscribers. This new build of Windows Vista offers users a higher level of performance and stability – improving what was established in Windows Vista RC1. We were able to also fix many of your bugs reported from RC1 and implement them for RC2. Thank you to our beta testers for the bugs and feedback you submitted for RC1. The improvement shows as we raised our quality bar even higher!

Platforms and Services Co-President Jim Allchin has just posted a special announcement letter of RC2 to Microsoft Connect for the Windows Vista Technical Beta Testers. I’d like to reproduce the letter here for all to read:

People asked for it, and here it is, Windows Vista RC2! We wanted you to be the first to get these bits; next week they’ll be available to a broader set of customers via MSDN and TechNet.

All your great feedback has helped us focus on nothing but bug fixes over the past month since RC 1 — each and every day. There are thousands of quality improvements since Windows Vista RC1. You’ll probably notice improvements in performance, application compatibility, as well as fit and finish work. We will continue improving quality until RTM. If you are an ISV, please use this build (certainly at least RC1 or later) to get certified. Visit www.innovateonvista.com for more information on logo certification.

You are integral to this creation and refinement process. We are just around the corner from RTM and shipping this great product to the world. This will be the last build made available prior to RTM, so please keep the feedback coming so we can hit the finish line. Thanks for your help in finishing the job!

jim

I encourage you to download and install Windows Vista RC2. We’re almost finished with Windows Vista – RTM is almost here. Submit as many bugs as you can as we continue to work hard toward shipping.

UPDATE: Windows Vista RC2 is now available to Customer Preview Program participants for a limited time. If you’re in the CPP use these links to access RC2:

Download: Windows Vista RC2 (x86 and x64) English
Download: Windows Vista RC2 (x86 and x64) German
Download: Windows Vista RC2 (x86 and x64) Japanese

Read more at: http://blogs.technet.com/windowsvista/archive/2006/10/06/Windows-Vista-RC2-is-now-available-to-technical-beta-testers_2100_.aspx

As you've probably already surmised, downloads of Windows Vista RC2 for the Customer Preview Program (CPP) have now closed and the links are no longer active.  We were bowled over by your response to RC2 -- in fact, we hit our download target (200K+) within 72 hours of propping the files!  This is an incredible response.

Special thanks go out to everyone who participated in the CPP by downloading and installing this new build, and please keep the feedback coming -- it makes a huge difference.

If you want another take on how your feedback helps and how the team tracks it, check out this story in the tech section of the New York Times.  (The story also has a good photo of the Life Cycle team -- that’s Sven Hallauer, Director of the Life Cycle team, in the black t-shirt, second from the left.  For more from Sven on the process of getting builds out to the public and what RC2 is all about, check out this podcast).

The amount of information coming out of the Windows Team between now and business availability in November is going to be daunting, but we’re really excited about Windows Vista and we know you are, too, so we’ll do our best to give you as much detail as soon and as often as we can.

On that note, today MS.com published the retail license terms for Windows Vista; you can find them here.  Two notable changes between Windows Vista license terms and those for Windows XP are: 1) failure of a validation check results in the loss of access to specific features (this is the SPP news you’ve likely been reading about this past week); and 2) an increase in our warranty period from 90 days to 1 year, which brings Windows in line with most other Microsoft products.

Read more at: http://blogs.technet.com/windowsvista/archive/2006/10/10/RC2_2C00_-the-New-York-Times-and-License-Information-for-Windows.aspx