Windows Vista delivers high quality right out of the gate. This is Microsoft's perspective and one of the arguments behind the Redmond Company's new strategy associated with the release of service packs for Vista. Michael Sievert, corporate VP for Windows marketing at Microsoft downplayed the relevance of the first service pack for Windows Vista, and confirmed the fact that Microsoft does not plan to issue a major refresh for the operating system.

"Will we continue to have service packs? Yes we will. But they have a different level of importance today as people get their updates in real-time using Windows Update," Sievert explained during a conference with financial analysts on Monday.

Microsoft's Stephen Toulouse, senior program manager for the Trustworthy Computing Group has stated as early as February that Windows Vista Service Pack 1 will be nothing more than a standard service pack, and in this context, not a repeat of Windows XP SP1 (30 MB) or SP2 (266 MB).

The Redmond Company has planned the first service pack for Windows Vista for the second half of 2006, but as of now, it is not delivering the actual date. Vista SP1 will include security updates and hotfixes and a performance boost. "Thanks to comprehensive pre-release testing and the immediacy of services like Windows Update, service packs are becoming less relevant as a milestone of a product's maturity. It is too early to provide any firm date range for delivery," Toulouse said.

Microsoft is laboring to convince customers to make the jump to Windows Vista prior to the first service pack. In this regard, the Redmond Company has applauded Windows Update and the Security Development Lifecycle as the pillars that ensure the high quality of the most secure Windows platform to date.