Vista SP1 Released Through Windows Update, XP SP3 Next Up

Published: March 26, 2008

by Alex Woodie

Windows Vista service pack 1 (SP1) is now available to millions of Vista PCs through Windows Update, Microsoft announced last week. While a Windows SP1 release would normally raise a good deal of interest from pragmatic business users, the troubles surrounding Microsoft's Vista SP1 release could mean a longer business upgrade cycle. With Vista SP1 out the door, speculation now moves to the actual delivery date for Windows XP SP3.

Windows Vista SP1 includes security, reliability, and performance enhancements, new search functions, more compatibility with video drivers and graphics cards, and greater support for user customization. The release capitulates to Google and its complaint to the U.S. Justice Department that Microsoft made it difficult for users to install Google's desktop search product and disable Microsoft's desktop search product, and also includes all of the security updates to Windows Vista since it originally shipped in the fall of 2006.

The proverbial poop hit the fan last month, just following the release to manufacturing of Vista SP1. Within days of RTM, Microsoft was inundated with a flood of reports from users whose PCs would reboot over and over again in a death spiral of restarts. Things got worse a couple of weeks ago when Microsoft revealed that Vista SP1 has compatibility problems with some Windows applications that functioned fine under Vista, and numerous driver problems.

Microsoft has fixed the reboot problem, and the compatibility issue will hash itself out over time. The driver problem has been minimized, but not entirely eliminated with SP1. Taken together, these problems sullied an otherwise happy time for a Windows SP1 release, and could give business users pause as they ponder their Windows desktop futures.

Vista SP1 can be downloaded now in English, French, Spanish, German, and Japanese, but it won't be pushed out via Windows Update until mid April, says Windows Vista product manager Nick White. Users will need to install all the prerequisite updates for Vista before SP1 will take, White says. For more information, see the Windows Vista Blog.

The delivery of Vista SP1 shifts attention to Windows XP SP3, the long-awaited update to Windows XP. Recent reports peg the delivery of XP SP3 sometime in the middle of April. Microsoft has committed to delivering XP SP3 for the first half of 2008, but maintains that the date is "preliminary."

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