Last week, I posted a picture without a caption and challenged you to identify the location and the historical significance of the place.

Here’s the answer, in a picture taken just a few minutes later:

The previous picture was taken in Prague Castle, looking out the very window where the Defenestration of Prague occurred. Anytime you think our politics have become unhinged, just look at this place, where grown men on two separate occasions settled their political differences by throwing their opponents out a window.

Regardless of how one feels about the violence, one must stand in awe of the word defenestration. I am even more pleased that the spell checker in Windows Live Writer recognizes it as a word.

Dave Nicholls gets bonus points for nailing it in the comments:

It’s Prague Castle and it has a special place in the history of Windows (not TM ) because, in 1618, some government officials were thrown out of windows on the third floor.

Following this the word defenestration was coined, it literally means to throw from a window.

I have a feeling it may have been taken through the actual window that the folk are reputed to have been thrown from.

Dave, I’ll be contacting you with details on where to send your copy of Office 2010 Inside Out…

We’re putting the final touches on Windows 7 Inside Out, Deluxe Edition, which has been keeping me inordinately busy. I’ll be preoccupied just a few days longer. So, to break the monotony, a quiz.

Look at the photo below. Where was it taken, and why is this place famous?

 

I have a couple copies of Office 2010 Inside Out to give away as prizes. for the best answer (not necessarily the first).

Go!

Over at ZDNet, I’ve just published a new post that might be helpful if you’re considering upgrading to Internet Explorer 9.

IE9 FAQ: how to install, uninstall, and tweak the final release

Did I miss anything? If you’ve got a question I didn’t cover, please leave it in the comments below.

This little fellow just appeared on the back fence. Could it be the Bluebird of Happiness? 

Probably not, but it gave me a good excuse to take a picture with our brand-new Canon G12 and some grist for the digital media chapters of Windows 7 Inside Out, Deluxe Edition.

Trivia note: Buffalo Springfield’s classic “Bluebird” was written by Steven Stills and Ahmet Ertegun. Yeah, that Ahmet Ertegun.

Most visitors to this site don’t have any need for Microsoft’s Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT). (Among other things, it allows you to manage and connect to virtual machines on a Hyper-V server, as I’ve documented here in the past.)

But for those of you who need RSAT, here’s an important warning. Don’t install Windows 7 Service Pack 1 unless you’ve already installed RSAT. For some inexplicable reason, the RSAT installer package is incompatible with SP1. The RSAT tools will continue to work just fine if they’re already in place when you set up SP1. But if you try to install RSAT on a Windows 7 system that includes SP1, you’ll get an error message: “The update is not applicable to your computer.” The only solution at that point is to uninstall SP1, install RSAT, and reinstall SP1, a process that will take hours.

Microsoft says a new, SP1-compatible version of RSAT will be ready in April. And if that seems like a long time to produce an update for a problem that should have been obvious back in November, well, I agree. But that’s the official word:

The SP1 version of RSAT is planned for April. Telling me how important it is will not move things faster – we know it’s important. Don’t bother trying to override with DISM /Add-Package or PKGMGMR /IP, that will not work either; the top level package in the cab cannot be bypassed.

Let me know if this affects you.

I’m off to Seattle for most of this week to attend the MVP Summit. I used to live in Redmond, so this forecast is familiar, in a gray sort of way:

If you’re an MVP and you want to meet up, leave a comment here or send me a private note using this contact form.

Most of the MVP Summit proceedings are under NDA, so I won’t be sharing much here, I’m sorry to say.

Updated with the latest information.

As promised, Microsoft today officially released Service Pack 1 for Windows 7 (all editions) and Windows Server 2008 R2. You can find it at the Microsoft Download Center.

If you only have one or two PCs to upgrade, I advise waiting until the installer shows up on Windows Update later today. I’ve just completed the installation on a test system here; it went very quickly.

The Microsoft Download Center requires validation; after you pass that check, you’ll have the option to choose from multiple versions of the Service Pack code. The ISO file (7601.17514.101119-1850_Update_Sp_Wave1-GRMSP1.1_DVD.iso, 1953.3MB) is for IT pros who want access to all three SP1 installers in a format that can be burned to DVD. Most users will also want to ignore the four symbol files, which are for use with debug versions of Windows.

You can download separate installers for 32-bit and 64-bit Windows 7 versions

• 64-bit: windows6.1-KB976932-X64.exe, 903.2MB
• 32-bit: windows6.1-KB976932-X86.exe, 537.8MB

The Windows Update package should download automatically overnight. If you want to force it to download and install now, open Windows Update and select the check box next to the Service Pack 1 entry, click OK, and then click Install Updates.

If you’re getting Windows Update errors, try using the online fix-it tools available from Microsoft. Details in this ZDNet post.

I was thinking of taking this rented Blu-ray disc and watching it with my best friends on an oil rig or in a prison. But then I saw this warning.

Thank goodness.

Earlier this week, Microsoft made the final release of Service Pack 1 for Windows 7 (and for Windows Server 2008 R2) available for download by the public.

Well, some of the public, anyway.

For now, you can get the bits only if you have an MSDN or TechNet subscription or a volume license for either Windows version. The download package is a hefty one, roughly 2GB in size, in ISO format. The disk image contains three separate  update packages, one each for x86, x64, and IA-64. You’ll also find new ISO installation images of Windows 7 with SP1 already integrated, which is handy to have if you’re setting up a new PC (or rebuilding an old one).

No MSDN or TechNet sub? Then you’ll have to wait until next week. In the meantime, you can pick up the documentation—release notes and deployment guides—at the Microsoft Download Center.

I don’t recommend that you rush out and get this update. It is, in the best sense of the word, a true service pack. It rolls up bug fixes and patches but doesn’t add any new features for Windows 7. It will be available via Windows Update eventually, presumably in a more efficient format,

Speaking of formats… If you’ve never used ISO files before, you’ll want to study up a bit first. I last wrote about working with ISO files in 2006 and should write an update of that post. Anyone have any ISO questions, comments, or tips?

I’m used to being picked up and linked to by other tech bloggers, but this is a first.

A longtime friend spotted my name in Andrew Sullivan’s The Daily Dish today. The subject is my recent series of blog posts on the new Tracking Protection feature in IE9 and how it’s likely to affect online advertising.

Ironically, the link that was ultimately forwarded to me was shared by my friend using AddThis, an online service that is blocked by every single one of the Tracking Protection lists I looked at in this series!

If you’re considering using IE9, you owe it to yourself to read these two posts:

Part 1 – IE9 and Tracking Protection: Microsoft disrupts the online ad business

Part 2 – Privacy protection and IE9: who can you trust?

I’m eager to hear your comments as well.