14 DAY TRIAL // If you think that Microsoft is done and over with Windows Vista Service Pack 1, then you are sadly mistaken. Just get ready for the next wave of Vista SP1 RTM. Released to manufacturing on February 4, 2008, and then to Windows Update and via the Microsoft Download Center on March 18, Vista SP1 is but at the middle of its availability saga. At this point in time, there are users that won't be able to get Vista SP1 via Windows Update and that don't want to bother with the 434.5 MB and 726.5 MB standalone downloads of the service pack.
"For those of you happy to wait - sit tight because SP1 will start downloading to PCs automatically beginning in mid-April (Remember, this happens only if you have your Windows Update configured to automatically download updates and SP1 will automatically download but not automatically install). (...) Looking forward, we're also getting ready to begin releasing the second wave of SP1 languages in April. These are the other 31 languages that we haven't released yet," explained Nick White, Windows Vista Product manager.
In mid-April, most likely on April 18, although this date remains unconfirmed by Microsoft, users will start seeing Vista SP1 RTM being dropped through Automatic Updated and with a label of important. April will also bring with it the RTM of the remaining 31 languages for Vista SP1 in addition to English, French, German, Japanese and Spanish. Next month will also be synonymous with the first OEM machines starting to hit the shelves pre-loaded with Vista SP1. And in this regard, it seems that retail copies of the service pack will become available even earlier. At the same time, the Redmond company is getting ready to serve Vista SP1 to business customers via Windows Server Update Services.
"We'll be publishing SP1 directly to WSUS at a future date, and before then we will make a Standalone Package of the service pack and it's prerequisites, available on the MU Catalog so that WSUS admins, who'd like to test and deploy the update, can easily import the service pack from the catalog into WSUS. We will give an update when the standalone package is available. At that time we will refer you to the WSUS blog for more information and guidance to prepare for the catalog import of SP1 to your WSUS servers," revealed a member of the Microsoft Update team.
Windows Vista Service Pack 1 Five Language Standalone for both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of the operating system is available for download HERE.