Processor maker Intel is saying pass to Windows Vista, SP1 or no SP1, delivering a heavy blow to Microsoft. Service Pack 1 is a traditional milestone which catalyzes a boost in the adoption rate for Windows operating systems. And as far as Windows Vista Service Pack 1 is concerned, Microsoft is giving out all the right signs. SP1 enhances performance, compatibility, stability, reliability, support, interoperability and so on and so forth, but one thing it fails to improve is the public perception of the operating system. And the move from Intel, a close Microsoft partner, will without a doubt contribute to perpetuating the ill aura which has been orbiting around Vista since the business launched in November 2006.

According to The Inquirer and The NY Times, the giant chip maker has found Vista too much of a gambit. Intel has reportedly decided not to upgrade its infrastructure, comprising in excess of 80,000 computers to Windows Vista. Back in 2007, the leader of the processor market was among the first companies to say that no large scale Vista upgrades would be introduced until the release of SP1. Now that Service Pack 1 is generally available, Intel will skip Vista altogether.

However, Intel did consider upgrading to the latest Windows client. The chip maker's information technology staff put the benefits and the cost of a Vista migration in the balance. The conclusion, which Intel claims is not a move against Microsoft, is that no compelling case was identified in order to spawn a Vista adoption process. The CPU developer has already deployed Vista across some areas of the organization, but indicated that a company-wide implementation is out of the question for now.

While this situation could evolve in the benefit of Microsoft and Windows Vista, Intel is sticking with Windows XP for the time being and looking to Windows 7 for its next large scale Windows upgrade. The Redmond company has failed to comment on Intel's decision, but it is indicating that Vista adoption is not as disastrous as it might seem.

According to the software giant, Vista sold "over 100 million licenses in the first year," a number which since then has grown to more than 150 million units. Microsoft also claims that, in the business environment, Vista was "adopted as fast as Windows XP, [with] millions of enterprise seats deployed, and growing. [The latest Windows client is in fact] on pace to deploy faster than Windows XP". Still, Microsoft now has to count Intel's 80,000 computers out of the millions of enterprise seats of Vista, an image problem more than anything else.