Microsoft Windows Vista SP1 contains changes focused on addressing specific reliability and performance issues, supporting new types of hardware, and adding support for several emerging standards. Windows Vista SP1 also addresses some management, deployment, and support challenges. Windows Vista Service Pack 1 will download automatically to PCs that have the automatic update feature of the OS turned on, the company said.
Microsoft has acknowledged problems with application compatibility and lack of driver support, among others, that customers have had with Vista. It says SP1 and other updates that the company continues to make should remedy these problems. What the company hasn’t said is why there were so many problems with the OS when the company had more than five years between the releases of Windows XP and Vista to ensure a smooth transition.
Even after today’s announcement, however, some Vista users may not see SP1 for weeks or even months because their PCs are using defective device drivers that Microsoft says may cause problems during an upgrade. It is blocking systems with those drivers from obtaining SP1 until the drivers themselves have been updated.
Users can obtain SP1 by downloading a much larger standalone installer from Microsoft’s site if the service pack is not visible in Windows Update.
