The fact that Microsoft will not publish a Windows Vista application compatibility list as was the case with the Windows XP Service Pack 2 is just another aspect that marks the evolution of Vista and the services associated with the operating system. In this context, by killing the mammoth effort that was synonymous with the XP SP 2 application compatibility list, the Redmond Company is shifting the consumer focus on the Microsoft Application Compatibility Toolkit.

Unlike Windows XP SP 2, the updating infrastructure and capabilities of Windows Vista have been perfected to the point where an eventual application compatibility list will require constant and perpetual revision and consequently generate confusion.

Brad Goldberg, Microsoft's general manager for Windows client product management, has confirmed to Mary Jo Foley at ZDNet that Microsoft has not planned and will not publish a Windows Vista compatibility list. "We have no plan for publishing a (Vista compatibility) list," Goldberg explained. "Instead, we are trying to do things differently than we did with XP SP2, such as releasing the ACT earlier."

Currently, the Microsoft Application Compatibility Toolkit 5.0 has reached the Release Candidate stage. And while there is no official date for the final release of the Toolkit, Microsoft is bound to release it as soon as possible considering that Vista is already available via volume licensing.

Microsoft revealed that the Windows Vista DVD has shipped with over 19,500 device drivers, but that updating the brand-new operating system on the first install in not ruled out, as the Redmond Company plans to deliver critical and non-critical updates and also generic device drivers via the Windows update service.