The latest build of Windows Vista Service Pack 1, made available by Microsoft to a group of selected testers last week, has been leaked to peer-to-peer file sharing networks. Although Microsoft is strongly exercising Sinofsky's Windows Omerta codename Translucency over at Redmond, the testing system set up outside the company is full of leaks. Nowhere is this trend more evident than with the pre-beta service packs for Windows Vista, Windows XP and the 2007 Office System. All the pre-beta versions of the refreshes for Microsoft's flagship products have been leaked to torrent trackers worldwide and are available free for all via BitTorrent clients.

Initially, the fist pre-beta version of Vista SP1 appeared on peer-to-peer networks in August after the mid July official launch. The Full Build tag was 6.0.6001.16549.070628-1825, and the download weighed in at 3.2 GB as it was an ISO file with SP1 deployed on top of Vista. Build 6.0.6001.16633 (longhorn.070803-1655) of Vista SP1 was dropped to Microsoft's select pool of testers last week, and information about the release was made available just days after the availability of the refresh.

However, Vista SP1 build 6.0.6001.16633 is less select at this point, as it was leaked to P2P networks. According to the information accompanying the download, Vista SP1 is a standalone installer designed for x86 (32-bit) systems. In this context I must underline the fact that the 64-bit pre-beta versions of the Vista SP1 seem to be more exclusive, as neither data, nor the actual code was leaked for either build 6.0.6001.16549 or build 6.0.6001.16633. The latest version of Vista SP1 comes as an .EXE file of 698.63 MB designed to be deployed on top of a Windows Vista installation.

"This is the Windows Vista Service Pack 1 Build 6001.16633. Think of it more as a pre-beta build of SP1 than an actual beta build. It is also a standalone update pack that can be installed in any edition of Vista RTM and is not a fully integrated SP1 ISO unlike the previously released 6001.16549. Full Build tag is: 6001.16633.070803-1655," reveal the release notes included with the torrent. Currently, the first actual beta build for Vista SP1 is planned for before November 2007, with all indications pointing to an availability date as early as September.