Department of Justice forcing Microsoft to release Vista SP1 this year
Microsoft does not like talking about release dates for its service pack release schedule for Vista or XP. Vista Service Pack 1 has been rumored to be out this year and Windows XP Service Pack 3 is still slated for release at some point next year. It may not be willing to discuss XP SP3 but the Department of Justice has told Microsoft that it will release Vista SP1 Beta before the end of the year, “or else.â€
Back in April, Intel hinted that Microsoft might release Vista SP1 in November or December which Microsoft refused to confirm or deny. What’s going on within Microsoft that it doesn’t want to talk about release schedules? You’d think they would want its customers to know when stuff is coming out.
Part of Vista SP1 will be an update to the default desktop search which will allow users to more easily pick a third party alternative instead of being forced to use Vista desktop search.
“Microsoft will deliver the required changes in Service Pack 1 of Windows Vista, which Microsoft currently anticipates will be available in beta form by the end of the year.â€
The desktop search change was prompted by a complaint from Google and it seems that it has won against Microsoft. I certainly wouldn’t have thought that. Google and Microsoft are as equally powerful as the other and that was hard to call.
The report issued by Microsoft is available at Computer World or in PDF format (if you like PDFs) which also mentions Windows XP SP3 but the majority of it talks about concessions that Microsoft made to the government and changes that will be made to Vista in SP1.
Microsoft will no doubt have to transfer resources around in order to get Vista SP1 out the door this year so that may delay anything and everything else that Microsoft might have been working on. The only question is this, can Microsoft make a good product on schedule? Past experiences tell me it can’t.
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