The Service Pack 2 for Windows Vista is being released next week in a candidate escrow build after Microsoft has moved up its release schedule for the software, according to a recent TechArp report. The initial wave of the software is now expected to be released a little sooner than previously expected, now at sometime late in April or early in May in its Release to Manufacturing version if no further delays are incurred. In-between, the final release candidate build is now due to be distributed on February 16th.

SP2 includes support for new hardware and emerging standards. The update will allow users to record Blu-ray media natively, have an updated Bluetooth 2.1 feature pack, and add Windows Search 4.0 for faster and more efficient file finding, among others. in Windows Vista. It will also support 64-bit processors from VIA and improve Wi-Fi performance after returning from sleep mode. New capabilities will be added to DirectX, with audio and video performance enhanced to better handle high-definition content.

SP2 is believed to the last major update to the software, meant to give users incentive to upgrade the current Windows operating system before Windows 7 launches in the near term.