Vista SP1 coming to Windows Update in mid-March
You've probably seen the 17-page changelog associated with Windows Vista Service Pack 1, you may even have tried the release candidate or indeed the release candidate refresh, but what we all really want to know is when will Vista's first service pack be officially released?
Well, now we know. Microsoft has today announced that Vista SP1 has been released to manufacturing. Though we'd hoped that would mean SP1 would land any moment now, that isn't the case. We'll still be waiting until mid-March.
Mike Nash from the Windows Product Management group at Microsoft outlines the timing of Vista SP1's deployment with the following description, taken from the official Windows Vista blog:
- In mid-March, we will release Windows Vista SP1 to Windows Update (in English, French, Spanish, German and Japanese) and to the download centre on Microsoft.com. Customers who visit Windows Update can choose to install Service Pack 1. If Windows Update determines that the system has one of the drivers we know to be problematic, then Windows Update will not offer SP1. Since we know that some customers may want to update to SP1 anyhow, the download centre will allow anyone who wants to install SP1 to do so.
- In mid-April, we will begin delivering Windows Vista SP1 to Windows Vista customers who have chosen to have updates downloaded automatically. That said, any system that Windows Update determines has a driver known to not update successfully will not get SP1 automatically. As updates for these drivers become available, they will be installed automatically by Windows Update, which will unblock these systems from getting Service Pack 1. The result is that more and more systems will automatically get SP1, but only when we are confident they will have a good experience.
- The remaining languages will RTM in April.
"This is an important milestone for our current and future Windows Vista customers around the world. I want to take a minute to thank our customers for their feedback on Windows Vista and the beta of Service Pack 1. I also want to thank our hardware and software partners for their continued efforts to deliver the best experiences on Windows Vista", he adds.
In other Microsoft news, the company also announced today that Windows Server 2008 has also been released to manufacturing. Microsoft Volume Licensing customers with active Microsoft Software Assurance coverage or an Enterprise Agreement will be able to download the server software toward the end of February as part of the joint Microsoft SQL Server 2008 and Visual Studio 2008 “Heroes Happen Here” launch event.
Official press release: Microsoft Releases Windows Vista Service Pack 1, Windows Server 2008 to Manufacturing
