Microsoft Says Vista Ultimate Gets the Special Service Pack 1 Treatment

Windows Vista Ultimate edition will get the special Service Pack 1 treatment. This does not mean that users of the high-end SKU of Vista will be getting their hands early on the gold bits of Vista SP1. It does however mean additional headaches and troubles. This because of the Language Packs released as Windows Ultimate Extras updates. First of all, once Vista SP1 RTM is deployed directly on top of Vista RTM, the Language Packs will no longer be offered via the Windows Update. But this is just the beginning, Nick White, Windows Vista Product Manager, revealed that it actually can get a tad more complicated.

"We will be releasing Windows Vista SP1 in two 'waves'. The first wave will only provide Windows Vista SP1 to Windows Vista Ultimate PCs running the following 5 Languages: English, French, German, Japanese and Spanish. The second wave will follow shortly after - supporting all 36 languages. For Windows Update, PCs running the 5 initial languages from the first wave only will be provided with Windows Vista SP1," White explained.

But from machines diverging from Vista SP1's ideal scenario as described by White, installing Service Pack 1 will not be a streamlined task from the get-go. And actually, it will be a task that end users will not get to do at all initially.

"PCs running Windows Vista Ultimate with any of the other Language Packs installed will not be offered Windows Vista SP1 through Windows Update until they are released. Once the Language Packs are released, Windows Vista SP1 will then be offered for installation," White stated.

In mid-March, Vista SP1 will drop via not only Microsoft Update and Windows Update, but also the Microsoft Download Center. But Vista Ultimate users running a copy of the operating system with a Language Pack installed, which fails to coincide with the 5 languages of SP1 wave 1, will get error (KB947876) and a failed installation. Essentially, all Vista Ultimate users will only be able to install just 5 versions of SP1, come mid-March 2008, for English, French, German, Japanese and Spanish. Users running Vista Ultimate in all other languages will have to wait for April 2007 in order to get SP1, or choose between SP1 and the localized language of their operating system.

According to White, the error message will read "Windows Vista Service Pack 1 cannot be installed on your computer because the language of Windows Vista you have installed is not supported or you have installed a language pack that is not supported. Windows Vista Service pack 1 can only be installed on computers running the English, French, German, Japanese and Spanish versions of Windows Vista or computers running only those language packs."

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