Vista SP1 Released to Manufacturing
Reverend Ninja writes "According to the Windows Vista team blog, Windows Vista SP1 has been released to manufacturing. It appears we'll have to wait until mid-March to play with it though, as the team cites that they want everyone to have a 'great install experience'. 'Service Pack 1 brings new improvements that are based on feedback we heard from our customers. It further improves the reliability and performance of Windows Vista. The information we collect thanks to tools like the Customer Experience Improvement Program, Online Crash Analysis, and Windows Error Reporting help us learn about where and when customers are having issues with Windows Vista and the applications that run on it. Since these issues have a direct impact on our customers' experiences, we've invested time and energy to make this better. While Windows Vista Service Pack 1 is an important milestone, we will continue to invest in the continuous improvement process.'"
Sigs are too short to say anything truly profound so read the above post instead.
... to have the service pack go RTM today and yet delay the release until a month later.
Unless Microsoft aren't concerned about leaks and torrents.
I'm with you. . . if they've started manufacturing discs of Vista SP1, isn't it a little late to be worried about a "great install experience"? I can only guess that what that means is they are burning what they've got now to discs, but they want to have a mini-service pack ready to roll-out with Windows Update as soon as people install SP1. . . "Thank you for taking an hour to upgrade to Vista Service Pack 1. In order to complete the installation process, Vista needs to connect to Windows Update to download and install SP 1.1, which should take another 1/2 hour to an hour. [OK]"
Anytime you make significant changes like this, alot of things break. This was one of the rare times (especially on the x64 versions) where microsoft has done 'the right thing' and broken tons of back compat in the name of a better product.
Just the fact that the bulk of drivers are now out in userspace is huge, and is causing lots of pain from IHVs who arent very good at writing drivers.
This whole Vista thing was an investment in the future for Microsoft. They need to fix some of these 10-year-old design problems, and they're starting to do that with Vista.
Vista is so rough in large part BECAUSE there are so many new things on the table. Unfortunately, they're things that only a systems engineer can appreciate at this point.