Microsoft is currently cooking no less than five new update packages for Windows Vista. While being in full throttle with the development of the first service pack for the operating system, the Redmond company is looking to address a number of issues impacting the platform ahead of time. Currently, Vista SP1 is planned for the first quarter of 2008. Since Microsoft is synchronizing the release of the service pack with the final version of Windows Server 2008, at this point in time, the first refresh for Vista will hit the market after February 2008.

Microsoft has failed to confirm this aspect officially, but the company did admit to planning the delivery of Vista SP1 after, or at least concomitantly with Windows Server 2008, formerly codenamed Longhorn. Windows Server 2008 was scheduled for RTM by the end of this year, still, Microsoft had a change of heart, explained as a consequence of quality issues and postponed the release to manufacturing of its last 32-bit server operating system to 2008. The official launch date of Windows Server 2008 remains the end of February 2008, and since the product shares the same core as Windows Vista, SP1 cannot be delivered earlier.

However, this does not mean that users cannot get a taste of Windows Vista SP1 today. First off, Microsoft made available Vista SP1 Beta to 12,000 testers through its Connect website. And additionally, in August, the company served two Compatibility, Performance and Reliability Packs for Vista via Windows Update. The Redmond company is in this manner attempting to reduce the relevance of service packs for its products while pushing the update infrastructure it has been building to the foreground.

"We also released five reliability packages via connect.microsoft.com for testing by selected members of the community. These packages consist of numerous improvements to Windows Vista based on user feedback, and while they will also ultimately be part of SP1, we're working to make them available before the final version of SP1 is released so that your Windows Vista experience is the best we can make it. But for now, they're still undergoing testing and will come your way once they're ready for prime time," stated Nick White, Microsoft Product Manager.