14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft is consistent in its strategy to gag all aspects of the Windows Vista Service Pack 1 front. Additionally, the Redmond company informed that the first service pack for its latest variant of the Windows platform will not be delivered as a public beta. This just in case that users were expecting a download to be made available. Instead, Microsoft does not appear to be interested in permitting Vista users to test drive or participate in the beta program for SP1. According to the company, testing the product will be quite the exclusive affair, almost as good as simply dogfooding the service pack.
Still, Microsoft has been kind enough to reinvent the wheel, by confirming the fact that a Windows Vista service pack does exist, and that a beta of the refresh is planned for 2007. The "breaking" news from the Redmond company comes in the context in which information related to Vista SP1 was already common knowledge. Microsoft additionally stated its commitment to deliver the service pack for Vista as a way to improve the user experience with the operating system.
But, SP1 was yet again pushed to the background, as Microsoft continues to stress the increased relevance of its Windows Update infrastructure. This could possibly point to a future where Microsoft will discontinue the service pack release practice altogether in order to evolve its products exclusively via updates. This is of course nothing more than speculation at this point in time, and Microsoft has not even hinted of something like this for the foreseeable future. However, it is a direction that the Redmond company is considering, given the strong emphasis placed on Windows Update in the detriment of Vista SP1.
Microsoft added that Vista currently supports in excess of 2.1 million devices and that over 2,000 programs have received certification for the operating system through the company's logo program. In conclusion, Windows Vista SP1 beta will be shipping, but only to an exclusive pool of testers. Microsoft denied the fact that a public beta of the SP1 will be made available in July or in the immediate future.