Windows Vista Service Pack 1 - it's ready!

Windows Vista Magazine: Windows Vista Service Pack 1 has been released to manufacturing (“RTM”). What happens now?

Mike Haigh: The release to manufacturing version of the service pack, which is the finished product, now goes to our PC builder partners, and they will install Service Pack 1 on the machines that start to roll off the production line. We expect that machines with Service Pack 1 will start to emerge around March/April once our partners have had the chance to evaluate the service pack themselves and get the machines manufactured and out of the door. At the same time as that occurs full package versions of Windows Vista with Service Pack 1 included will hit the shelves at retail, and then we will make sure that our volume license customers have got access to Service Pack 1 as well – that will be slightly earlier, early March. The majority of customers will see Service Pack 1 arrive through Automatic Updates so in that respect Service Pack 1 is very much like any other update that we deploy through Windows Update, and customers can expect to see that arrive on their machines at about the same time as OEM and retail box product arrives in store.

WVM: So what’s the decision for not putting out Service Pack 1 on Windows Update tomorrow?

Mike: We like to give our partners the chance to evaluate the software themselves. We go through a process post-RTM on the final issues, in case our partners have any issues or tweaks that they want to iron out that weren’t caught by the beta programme. And once the product is through that final phase, we’ll release it to the general public. It’s no different in that respect to any other operating system release that we’ve done.

WVM: How big is it, and how long will it take to download?

Mike: It’s about 60MB or so, so it’s not a huge file, and it depends on the type of bandwidth you have, but if you have fast broadband it’s going to be a very quick install.

WVM: What was the primary goal in developing Service Pack 1?

Mike: It marks a year on, it’s the culmination of a year of Windows Vista improvements. There’s never been a better time to upgrade to Windows Vista because what we wanted to do with Service Pack 1 was integrate all of the security updates that we have had since Windows Vista launched, but we also wanted to make some slight tweaks and changes to the way the operating system works, particularly in the areas of improved application compatibility, improved performance and improved reliability. So there’s no new features at such within the service pack – all the changes that we’ve made are designed to enhance the user’s experience based on feedback that we’ve had since we launched Windows Vista a year ago. It marks the maturing of Windows Vista as an operating system.

WVM: Looking back to Service Pack 2 on Windows XP, which brought a lot of new functionality to the operating system, some people will be expecting similar from Windows Vista Service Pack 1. Are there any visual changes or program changes that people will notice or is it all under the bonnet stuff?

Mike: It’s pretty much all under the bonnet stuff. It’s important to differentiate between Windows XP Service Pack 2 and Windows Vista Service Pack 1. In Windows XP the service pack was a re-engineering of the operating system based on a pretty critical security need. It involved making some changes very deep down at the kernel layer of the operating system that impacted several elements of the operating system including, for example, applications and devices. With Windows Vista Service Pack 1 it’s important to make a very clear delineation, because people are experienced in service pack releases. The last service pack that the majority of people will remember is Service Pack 2 for Windows XP. Windows Vista Service Pack 1 is a very much smaller version. Windows Vista is the most secure operating system that we have ever released and it’s supported by literally tens of thousands of application drivers, and thousands of applications, so already, a year in, it’s a very stable, very mature operating system. Service Pack 1 marks the culmination of all the updates that we’ve made as well as improvements based on our users’ experience and feedback as well as Windows crash reports, and out of this feedback we’ve been able to identify that people want improvement in terms of performance, reliability and compatibility issues. So we’ve addressed those directly in Service Pack 1. There are no new features as there were in Windows XP Service Pack 2 – instead, it’s a maturing of a very strong operating system.

WVM: Is this how service packs are going to be now, or might we see a Windows Vista Service Pack 2 that does bring fundamental changes?

Mike: Clearly we have a development roadmap around the Windows operating system. The strategy and the plan around the development of Windows is to deliver improvements through automatic updates. So the file size points to that, because it goes to show that when we released Windows Vista we had it pretty much right at launch. The changes that we have made with Service Pack 1 are relatively small but they plug some holes where we have had feedback, so I think the days of huge service pack releases have probably gone because now that there is such great internet penetration in people’s homes it’s much easier to develop and distribute incremental changes as they are required as opposed to huge service pack releases.

WVM: In this age of broadband, is it time to drop the idea of service packs altogether, or do they still have a role?

Mike: Windows Vista Service Pack 1 is certainly one where we see the importance of service packs declining. As we move more to a world where software updates are delivered through the web , through Windows Update, I think that the importance of the service pack will probably diminish. Although you can’t predict the future so I wouldn’t say it was the last one!

Many thanks to Mike for taking the time to talk to us about Service Pack 1. Look out for it in Windows Update!