To be or not to be?
That's the question bloggers are asking after Microsoft took the
owner of
The Hotfix.net blog to task for posting what
he claims are 100 fixes slated for Windows Vista Service Pack
1 (SP1).
Specifically, the question is whether Microsoft will actually
release a Vista service pack in the near future. Windows users have
come to expect such releases following upgrades to the operating
system, and many IT administrators usually won't install a major
Windows upgrade without one. Their philosophy is that it's best to
wait for a service pack because by then many of the kinks early
adopters run into have been ironed out.
Hotfix.net owner Ethan Allen has received a lot of media
attention for posting the so-called Vista SP1 preview. Allen, a
software quality assurance manager based in Bellevue, Wash., has
been saying in published reports that he got his hands on the fixes
from someone close to Microsoft with access to the technology.
Microsoft does plan a
Vista service pack and conventional wisdom
is that it'll be out in the second half of 2007, when the next
release of Windows Server -- code-named Longhorn -- is due out.
But the company hasn't set a firm date on the release. Allen's
preview page has sparked speculation that a service pack release
may be sooner rather than later.
Microsoft is not happy, if this posting on the
official Vista blog is any indication:
"A HotFix.net blogger … posted a collection of individual
Windows Vista hotfixes as a supposed Windows Vista Service Pack 1
(SP1) preview," Vista product manager Nick White wrote. "However,
those of you who've been closely following discussions on Windows
Vista will quickly notice that what is posted consists of some
material already available on Windows Update and some hotfixes that
we give out on a case-by-case basis, along with a lot of
speculation about what may and may not be included in SP1."
White said it looked as though Allen compiled a list of previous
mentions of SP1 -- purely conjectural and already discussed in
other blogs, he said -- and stitched it together with another list
of hotfixes mentioned in various Microsoft Knowledge Base
articles.
"You probably already know that we create and release hotfixes
on a regular basis for very specific customer scenarios or for
OEM-shipped machines, and that it's standard policy that all
hotfixes are rolled into the next service pack release," he wrote.
"However, a service pack is not just a compilation of hotfixes and
security updates, so don't make the mistake of thinking that the
set of fixes offered in this particular blogger's list represents a
preview of the service pack itself."
Robert McLaws, an Arizona-based software consultant and
self-described online pundit, wrote in his popular
Windows Now blog that Microsoft is trying to
keep quiet about Vista SP1 because the company doesn't want it
to "unnecessarily" hinder the adoption of Vista.
"I say unnecessarily because the mentality still exists that
Microsoft products aren't worth upgrading until the service pack
comes out," he wrote.
But in McLaws' opinion, users shouldn't feel like they have to
wait for a service pack. "Vista is without question the most
consumer-focused release Microsoft has ever done, mostly because
more testers gave Microsoft feedback than in any previous release,"
he wrote.
Nevertheless, he believes Vista SP1 will be ready this year
because Windows Vista and Windows Server 2007 share the same code
base, which means both operating systems use many of the same
binaries.
"While Windows Vista has gone through more reliability testing
than any previous consumer OS, Windows Server 2007 will have an
extra 6-10 months of testing. So Microsoft gets a two-fold benefit
for the extra WS2007 testing this year," he said. "The end result
is that Windows Vista SP1 will have the same stability, security,
and reliability as a server OS. This cannot be understated:
Microsoft has never had server reliability on the desktop
before."
Though this may become the first time in Microsoft's history
that the first service pack is released the same calendar year as
the first release, he wrote that people shouldn't take it to mean
that Vista is more buggy or less stable than it should be.
"It just means that the Vista will get to reap the benefits of
the additional server testing that is going on as we speak," he
said.
Ron Schenone, a Microsoft MVP who keeps a blog called
The Blade, was
among those speculating that
a Vista service pack may never see the light
of day.
He wrote that the smart money has been on waiting until
Microsoft released a service pack or two before adopting the newest
operating system, since that's what happened with Windows 2000 and
XP.
"Well that might not be the case with this release," he wrote.
"[It] seems that Microsoft is very satisfied with Vista thus far
and that they may choose to provide fixes as needed via Windows
update."
The thinking is two-fold. He said smaller doses of updates would
not be so disruptive as was the case with Windows XP SP1, when many
PC owners found themselves with slow running systems. Also,
providing bandwidth for millions of downloads for service packs is
costly to Microsoft and it may not be necessary to spend the money
in this case.
"But who knows," he said, "Microsoft could change their minds
and still provide service packs in the future."
Joseph Fieber, founder of the
ITsVISTA blog, is betting that
Vista SP1 will come out, and that Microsoft will schedule the
release for the holiday shopping season.
"There will be a service pack, it will contain all available
fixes, and I predict it will be made available on Nov. 30 of 2007,"
he wrote. "Having it out before Thanksgiving would help with early
holiday season spending."