Windows Vista Service Pack 1 Release Candidate has been opened up to the general public. If you own a copy of the Windows Vista operating system, then you can access, download and install the Release Candidate for the Service Pack, with no more restrictions from Microsoft. The first pre-beta version of Vista SP1 was served in mid July 2007 to a select pool of testers. The development of the operating system's service pack moved ahead at a fast pace, with the first quarter of 2008 as delivery deadline. Ever since he was leading the Office development effort over at Microsoft, Steven Sinofsky, currently Senior Vice President, Windows and Windows Live Engineering Group, had a reputation for the meeting deadlines.

And with Vista SP1 RC shipping to the general public it is clear that Microsoft is right on track for making available the refresh in early 2008. The due date of the service pack has still not been made public, but at this point in time, it is also intimately connected with the feedback that the Redmond company will receive following the implementation of the public Vista SP1 RC. In fact, from the get go it was emphasized that the final availability date of the first service pack for Windows Vista would be correlated with a quality standard set by end user input.

When describing the modalities in which Microsoft would serve Vista SP1, Product Manager Nick White revealed that the company would issue two waves of downloads. Vista SP1 RTM will be served initially as a standalone installer (for both x86 and x64 platform ) for five languages: English, French, Spanish, German and Japanese. And following this release, no later than 12 months after the SP1 RTM date, Vista SP1 will be delivered for the the remaining languages. And this is the case with the Release Candidate of SP1. Vista users will be able to download no less than two Windows Vista SP1 RC Standalone Packages, with 32-bit and 64-bit versions. The options are among the five language package and the complete package featuring a total of 36 languages.

Windows Vista Service Pack 1 Release Candidate can be downloaded via this link.