This is it! Windows Vista Service Pack 1 is no longer in development, as Microsoft has released it to manufacturing today, February 4, 2008. The final Vista SP1 is out for the first set of languages, namely English, French, Spanish, German and Japanese. However, the fact that the code for Vista SP1 has gone gold means nothing to end users, as Microsoft is not allowing access to the bits of the final version of the Service Pack. That's right, no download, no Windows Update availability, no nothing. What does this mean? Well, only that you will have to exercise your patience a tad more.

"Service Pack 1 is a very important milestone because it addresses many of the key issues that our customers have identified with Windows Vista over the last year both, directly and through programs like the Customer Experience Improvement Program. With Service Pack 1, we have made great progress in performance, reliability and compatibility. One of the great things about my job is that I get to play with the latest builds of our products - I've personally been running Windows Vista SP1 pretty exclusively for a few months and I've noticed that my systems run faster and more reliably than they did with the 'Gold' release of Windows Vista," revealed Mike Nash, Corporate Vice President, Windows Product Management.

According to Nash, there is a good reason why Microsoft is holding Vista SP1 back, instead of releasing it immediately. It appears that the Redmond company has already made up its mind of the difference between what end users want and what is good for them. And in this context, the general availability of Vista SP1 is not synonymous with the RTM date.

"The key learning over the last year is that when we change the operating system, it takes time to let the ecosystem make sure that the hardware and software that they build works well with Windows Vista. So as we release Windows Vista SP1 to manufacturing, we are going to be thoughtful about when and how it gets distributed," Nash added.

The fact of the matter is that even if Windows Vista SP1 has been finalized, the service pack won't be released for another month. Microsoft pointed at the beginning of March for the debut of Vista SP1's availability. But even so, the company's Volume Licensing customers will be the first to get their hands on the service pack, with end users probably left for last.

"With today's RTM of SP1, a number of processes kick off as we deliver the update to customers. Our OEM partners will get SP1 and start producing new PCs running Windows Vista with SP1 pre-installed. We will also start the manufacturing process for retail product of Windows Vista with SP1. Both will be available in stores for new Windows Vista customers in the coming months. Today we also start the process to manufacture DVDs for our enterprise customers who get our software via our Volume Licensing program," Nash said.

How long will you have to wait? Well, at this point, it looks like for over a month and a half. Vista SP1 will be released in mid-March via Windows Update in English, French, Spanish, German and Japanese. At the same time, the service pack will be delivered through the Download Center on microsoft.com, and to the end users on Windows Update.

"In mid-April, we will begin delivering Windows Vista SP1 to Windows Vista customers who have chosen to have updates downloaded automatically. That said, any system that Windows Update determines has a driver known to not update successfully will not get SP1 automatically. As updates for these drivers become available, they will be installed automatically by Windows Update, which will unblock these systems from getting Service Pack 1. The result is that more and more systems will automatically get SP1, but only when we are confident they will have a good experience. The remaining languages will RTM in April," Nash promised.