5 February, 2008
The first Windows Vista service pack has been released. Is it
time to buy Vista equipped computers?
We've been advising readers to hold off buying Microsoft Vista until
the first Service Pack is released. Today it has been released
for manufacture, or RTM as Microsoft like to put it.
RTM means it's been sent to system builders like Dell and Hewlett
Packard so they can start incorporating the update into their new systems.
We can expect to see these new boxes appearing over the next few weeks.
If you currently have Windows Vista, then you'll have to wait until
Microsoft release the service pack through the Windows Update service.
This is expected to be done in mid March.
At present, we stick with our
recommendation to avoid Vista where possible. Any current system
will be supplied without the service pack.
We'd also suggest waiting a few weeks after the service pack has been
released to allow the industry time to understand the changes. It is
possible some of the improvements will break things. The Microsoft
blog itself warns that some hardware drivers don't play nicely with
it.
The next three months will be the crunch time for Windows Vista. If
Vista is to overcome the slur of being the "new Windows ME" then the
service pack will need to resolve a number of performance and compatibility
issues.
