Thursday, August 30, 2007

With Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1), now due in the first quarter of 2008, Microsoft is deemphasizing the role that service packs play in the ongoing updating and maintenance of its operating systems. That is, Vista SP1 will be a traditional service pack, collecting previously-issued updates into a single installation, and including few new end user features. It will, however, improve the Vista experience in a number of ways and include new device drivers and other improvements.

While Microsoft's continued requests for businesses to not wait for SP1 before deploying Windows Vista may seem self-serving, this week's revelations about the feature set of the service pack suggest that this advice is sound. Windows Vista SP1 looks like a solid and necessary update, but it will not dramatically impact the end user at all. If you're a Windows enthusiast, Vista SP1 is more a curiosity than something to get excited about. It will not include anything interesting or compelling, in an end user sense, such as a new Media Center version. (Which is also overdue, incidentally.) Hopefully, this will end the speculation. I only wish Microsoft had been this upfront about SP1 months ago. It's been a long time coming.

Labels: Vista