For download, but again, not for end users

Mar 3, 2008 18:24 GMT  ·  By

Microsoft takes yet another step toward the general availability of Windows Vista Service Pack 1 RTM. A fresh release of the first service pack for Vista is now available for download. And of course that end users will not be able to get their hands on the bits, still. Starting with the releasing to manufacturing of Vista SP1, Microsoft has been serving bits and pieces of the gold version of the service pack to anyone but the end users. The latest release from the Redmond company is the ISO image of Windows Vista SP1 Enterprise x86 Full DVD (integrated - slipstream).

"The Windows Vista SP1 image rollout continues and at this point TechNet Direct subscribers can download the Enterprise x86 DVD image. I'm sure the x64 image will arrive in the next day or so. Keep your downloader warmed up. For those of you with subscriptions, you know there are VL MAK keys available so you can begin some serious testing with the 32 bit platform. Enterprise has nearly all of the feature set you would ever want, but it lacks the Media Center shell and a couple of other features found in Ultimate," stated Keith Combs, Microsoft IT Pro Evangelist.

The end users are last in line to get Vista SP1 RTM without having anything to say in this regard. Microsoft has already dropped the RTM build to the beta testers, to OEMs, to Volume License customers and to MSDN and TechNet Plus subscribers. The rest of Vista users will have to wait until mid-March for the final bits for SP1. In a couple of weeks, Microsoft plans to release Vista SP1 via Windows Update, Microsoft Update and the Microsoft Download Center. But if you are running a localized version of Vista, you will have to wait all the way until April in order to get yours. And if you don't want to be troubled with the details of finding and installing Vista SP1 you will have to exercise your patience even further as Automatic Updates will deliver the service pack starting with mid-April.