Mid-March means Vista SP1

For a long time now, Microsoft has been arguing that service packs are less significant than they used to be. What was once taken as a sign that a product had the kinks ironed out is now more a psychological milestone than a technical one.

That said, many are still pointing to the release of Windows Vista Service Pack 1 as a key sign to businesses that the product is ready to be taken seriously.

Microsoft finalized the code for Windows Vista Service Pack 1 at the beginning of February and eventually allowed some technical users to start downloading the code. Broad release though, has been slated for "mid-March," which by my calendar means it should come this week. Mary Jo Foley notes that Amazon appears to be expecting the retail version to be available this week as well.

Vista SP1 has been held up because of a problem in which some drivers don't work with the update. That appears to still be a problem, according to an e-mail I got last week when I queried about SP1's status.

"In mid-March, we will release Windows Vista SP1 to Windows Update and the download center on microsoft.com," Microsoft said in a statement. "Customers who visit Windows Update can choose to install Service Pack 1. Any system that Windows Update determines has a driver known to not upgrade successfully will not be offered SP1."

The company said that starting in "mid-April," it will start to push SP1 automatically to those Vista customers using the operating system's built-in automatic update option.

[samlopez]

Vista SP 1

What about XP SP 3
When will that be released?
More users run XP in lieu of Vista!

[russkeller]

Ehh...

I tried XPSP3 RC2. It broke several drivers, no boggie. I was able to find a fix for everything except my mouse. Which ment I couldn't effectivly playtest or play any games but I was able to run Futuremark06 and my benchmark went from 14K to 15.5K not a bad jump so I did see some measurable improvement there. Not Quite as big as I had heard advertised but it was there.

[Kasee]

No Vista - But XP Professional SP2

After 10 months of using Windows Vista! finally I am not any more interested in SP1 for Vista but have moved back to Windows XP Professional SP2.

I recommend you not moving to VISTA atleast for now. Windows XP SP2 is the best when compared to any VISTA. For example,

With the same Hardware - 1.83 GHZ 2 Duo Core Processors, 2 GB RAM, 256 MB Video Card, 160GB Hard disk - DELL Inspiron 6400 Laptop the behaviour of the system is described here.

Windows Vista Home Basic with all updates (no SP1) so far released by microsoft for this product. System boots in around 1 minute, but most of the time, Network connectivity is not there.. after few minutes ( 5 - 10 min) I get the network connectivity. So my auto run program connects to internet and become available to use in about 10 - 15 mins from the time I power on.

Windows XP Professional, can do all these things in the maximum of 75 seconds to 90 seconds. + Windows XP Professional SP2

Security is best in Windows Vista - Yes but I always never can rely on the built in security. I go for McAfee 2008. I use the same in windows XP Professional, so no difference in security aspect.
No points to Windows XP & Windows VISTA


I cannot install my SAP GUI in windows Vista, but can do this in Windows XP Professional. + Windows XP Professional SP2.

More over! I dont have to buy expensive hardware to maintain interface with my windows VISTA.
+ Windows XP Professional SP2.

Better choose Windows XP Professional SP2.

[cross platform]

I Like Vista!

I've been using Home Premium since Oct. and it works fine! On a 4 year old computer to boot!
I like the new interface and the way it's laid out.
I don't like the interface for XP as it looks just like it is - old.

[sanenazok]

discovery of the centry

an OS from 2001 will run better on hardware from 2006 than an OS from 2007. Obviously, if you don't need Vista, you should not get it or if your hardware support is so poor that you system takes 10 times as long to load in Vista as it does in XP. I have a $500 dell desktop that runs Vista Home perfectly. I installed XP to dual boot from another partition and haven't gone into XP since Vista drivers for my scanner were released in June. With the latest patches installed, it's hard for me to say that XP is faster than Vista. XP is older, however, so it definitely wins in the age category.

[junkie4fame]

CAN VISTA

Just say no to Vista! There is good reason why it has not caught on and most business will not migrate. Do yourself a favor and just wait for the next version. Most of my business clients who migrated have had nothing but trouble, and 8/10 end users are begging to have XP back. Extreme DRM, heavy utilization of resources, still many compatibility issues... forget it!

[george108]

Vista

I cann't stand Vista. Tried it in stores and read all info on it. Not many people seem to
like it. Never had a problem with XP. It works for me and has for the past 4 or so years. Why buy more. If something isn't broke, leave it be.
Just another way for Gates to get even richer.

[john55440]

SP1 - March 19th on Amazon.com

On Amazon.com Vista SP1 is listed as "This item will be released on March 19, 2008."

[AppleSuxLeo]

I would upgrade if XP wasn`t so good...

no bluescreen in over 4 years , no malware , no viruses either. I ran it for a year without AV just as a test and still didn`t get any viruses. It all comes down to patching regularly and just common sense use while on the net. If I get a laptop I will wait until they are pre-loaded with Vista SP1. I.E. 7 under Vista IS the most safe by far of any browser as it runs in "sandboxed" protected mode , and I do look forward to that !

[igl00lgi]

Just switching

After two vista laptops, that I can only say were nothing more than dogs, we are doing something we never thought we would do. We are buying macs for our business. I really never thought we would get to this point. With our ability to purchase laptops with XP coming to an end and our TCO going up due mainly to lost time, we can ill afford, especially in a slowing economy, to continue with this MS os upgrade fiasco. As a small business it is just to costly for us. The machine just has to work. I can only wonder what MS executives were thinking when they chose to help Intel's bottom line at the expense of the small business community. The Vista laptops however are not going to waste, they will be used to evaluate linux distributions.

[sanenazok]

What were they thinking?

I'm sure that Ballmer and company thought for many hours what an anonymous web poster "igl00lgi" will think of their new product. OMG, you're switching your "business" to Macs? Not only that by now they already know?! They might just hurt themselves, quick someone better get them to a safe place and away from sharp objects.

So you don't like Vista because the "TCO" is too high? Get ready for the total cost of ownership of Macs. Buy all new hardware and new software, plus your two Vista laptops aren't going to run MacOS (of course they could, but then APPLE would loose its hardware premium) so those costs are down the drain.

I don't see how your post makes sense since XP is supported through April 8, 2014. Yep, that's two-thousand and fourteen. How long is OS X supported??? Final patches are issued within two years of subsequent release.

[john55440]

Date for SP1-Preinstalled from OEMs?

When is Vista SP1 preinstalled going to be available from OEMs, such as HP?

[boiko]

Let's hope SP1 fixes the "local only" wireless bug...

All you really have to do is google "Vista" "local only" and you'll get a tide wave of complaints. This is ONE of the top issues that need to be addressed in current Vista. This is also a very well known problem and since some many people are unable to to use their computers via a wireless connection.

Let's all hope that SP1 does indeed finally fix the now infamous "local only" wireless connection bug/problem.

[boiko]

Let's hope SP1 fixes the "local only" wireless bug...

All you really have to do is google "Vista" "local only" and you'll get a tide wave of complaints. This is ONE of the top issues that need to be addressed in current Vista. This is also a very well known problem...since so many people are unable to to use their computers via a wireless connection...

Let's all hope that SP1 does indeed fix the now infamous "local only" wireless connection bug/problem.

[Composer_1777]

OMG i hope!!!!!

Vista wireless is so horrible, when i first had vista business it created like 20 connections to my home router and never connected, lol.

I hope the wireless will work as good as XP soon

[boiko]

No fix for "Local Access" problem in Vista SP1

Sadly, after putting in all too many hours in last night. It does not appear that SP1 has solved my "local access" connectivity problem. As so many before me..I've read the miles and miles of posts all over the Internet on this now infamous problem. If you want the details on this - just Google "vista" "local only" and read the 1000's of posts.

BTW - These are all Vista certified wireless routers we are talking about here....and no I don't hate Vista - it works great on my parents Dell desktop.

There are only (2) things sure when it comes to this issue.

- People who have never seen this issue will tell you that no such problem exits in Vista, (OR they will tell you, that they indeed have the fix...) Don't believe them..this problem is real and still remains after SP1.

- The other sure thing is the great number of people (home users, students, IT Departments, College Campuses, Companies, etc..) struggling with this issue for now over a year.

There have been Hotfixes,KB Articles, TechNet posts out now for over a year talking about this issue...and still no sure fix.

Where's that XP disk....

[Fractal42]

SP1 avaliable for download @ Microsoft Download Center

32 bit - http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=b0c7136d-5ebb-413b-89c9-cb3d06d12674&DisplayLang=en

64 bit -
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=874a414b-32b2-41cc-bd8b-d71eda5ec07c&DisplayLang=en