14 DAY TRIAL // Even from the early stages in development of Windows Vista Service Pack 1, Microsoft pointed out that the refresh would be nothing more than a standard update for the operating system, designed to do nothing more than to soften the rough edges of the platform. One of the aspects of Vista SP1 that was indeed evolved with the introduction of SP1 was the kernel. In this context, Microsoft has virtually aligned the cores of Vista SP1 and Windows Server 2008. After the releasing to manufacturing of both the service pack and the server operating system, Vista SP1 RTM is version 6.0 build 6001 (6.0.6001) while Windows Server 2008 is also 6.0 build 6001. The move is of course nothing more than the natural growth of both the server and client platforms.
"Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 originally began as part of a single development project, and as such they share a number of new technologies across networking, storage, security and management. Although the development of Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 have branched into separate releases with different release cycles, many of these enhancements apply to both Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008. When organizations deploy both operating systems, they will see how the combined client-server infrastructure provides even greater advantages," Microsoft revealed.
But, as far as the evolution of the Vista SP1 kernel is concerned, the Redmond company has given assurances that it's neither an upgrade nor a re-engineering. While the enhancements are there, they do not impact the underlining foundation of the Vista kernel, but simply add to it. The growth of Vista SP1's kernel is essentially connected with the introduction of an extended collection of APIs designed to deliver enhanced support for 64-bit application development.
"Service Pack 1 includes supported APIs by which third-party security and malicious software detection applications can work alongside Kernel Patch Protection on 64-bit versions of Windows Vista. These APIs have been designed to help security and non-security ISVs develop software that extends the functionality of the Windows kernel on 64-bit systems, in a documented and supported manner, and without disabling or weakening the protection offered by Kernel Patch Protection," Microsoft added.