Technology news and Jobs 
Fuzzy Logic Vista SP1: the amazing story of the software that changed Microsoft forever
Fuzzy Logic Vista SP1: the amazing story of the software that changed Microsoft forever | Vista SP1: the amazing story of the software that changed Microsoft forever |
|
|
| by Alex Zaharov-Reutt | |
| Saturday, 22 March 2008 | |
|
Page 2 of 4 So, rather than wasting tens of billions of dollars buying out a company like Yahoo, something that had been rumoured for years, Microsoft decided to spend a much smaller amount paying top-notch programmers to go through every line of Vista’s code. For the launch of Vista SP1, Microsoft decided on a new slogan: “Rock-solid reliability”. Why? Because it knew it had crossed the Rubicon of absolute reliability, once and for all. Microsoft had flirted with the idea of using the “Rubicon of reliability” but didn’t want people to get confused with the idea of rubbing out icons, or that Vista was somehow related to the actions of Caesar centuries ago – pretty smart if you ask me. Microsoft had kept a lot of this secret from the world until SP1’s launch. Beta versions of SP1 gave little hint as to the revolutionary change that was about to impact the world. Some developers and beta testers had almost figured out that something was afoot, but Microsoft cleverly ensured that beta versions of SP1 still did things the old Vista way, just to throw people off the scent. The real SP1 code, which Microsoft knew would revitalise millions of Vista computers and would give the world the biggest surprise, was actually there in the beta versions, dutifully being tested, but special routines to keep the performance at the old, horrific Vista RTM levels ensured no-one would realise what a monumental shift Microsoft was about to unveil. So, when the fourth of February rolled around, the response was one of sheer amazement and joy, far more than Steve Jobs had ever managed to generate at any Macworld keynote. It was a day to remember, with some calling for the 4th of February – the day Vista SP1 was announced at the Windows Vista Team Blog as having gone to RTM - to be called a new ‘Computing Independence Day’, while others wanted to rename it ‘Bill Gates Day’. A few wanted to call it ‘Computing Reliability Day’ but, in the end, most simply knew it as ‘SP1 Day’, and the day Microsoft grew up and started taking real responsibility for its creations, the day excuses went out the window, the day promised features were actually delivered rather than dumped, and the day computing was forever changed. So, what has Vista SP1 actually delivered to the world - and what was the secret role of Linus Torvalds and others? Please read onto page 3. |
| < Next story in category | Previous story in the category > |
|---|
