Windows Vista Service Pack 1 is almost here. And Windows XP SP3 is not that far behind either. With Windows 7 leaked and official details becoming public as Microsoft made available Windows 7 Milestone 1 for testing to selected partners, the next version of Windows has stolen the show away from Windows Vista and Windows XP. More specifically, away from the first Service Pack for Windows Vista and the third and final service pack for Windows XP. But now it's high time for Vista SP1 and XP SP3 to come back into play.

Although the company continues to stick to the official timetable for the availability of both Vista SP1 and XP SP, with deadlines set for the first quarter of this year, and by mid 2008, Microsoft offered numerous indications that the two service packs would be released to manufacturing together in February. At the end of the past week, Tech ARP reported that Vista SP1 would RTM on February 4, 2008. Microsoft has made available a veritable bonanza of Vista SP1 Beta and Release Candidates builds, and with two Refreshes shipped for Vista SP1 RC in January 2008, it is clear that the RTM is imminent.

Even though Vista SP1 RTM won't hit on February 4, 2008, chances are that the service pack in its final version will be released sometime this week. At this point in time, Microsoft has failed to confirm that it has the final bits for Vista SP1. But the company has denied that Vista SP1 RC Refresh 2 is the gold version of the service pack. Microsoft was also hesitant to admit whether or not build 18000 was the final build number for Vista SP1 RTM.

At the same time, Microsoft is in the final stages of cooking Windows Server 2008. In January, as the company released Refreshes for the Release Candidates of Vista SP1 and XP SP3, it also moved Windows Server 2008 into Escrow, the final stage before RTM. The development milestones of Windows Server 2008, Vista SP1 and XP SP3 have been synchronized since late 2007. In this context, with both Vista SP1 and Windows Server 2008 planned for RTM this week, XP SP3 is up next, but not so far behind as you might think. February is after all included in the first half of 2008...

UPDATE: Windows Vista SP1 Released to Manufacturing! But You Can't Have It!