No Vista SP1 bits for users until mid-March

Customers who've been waiting for Microsoft to release the final Vista Service Pack (SP) 1 bits are going to have to wait another month or two to actually get their hands on them -- at least through legal channels.

In a posting to the Windows Vista team blog, Corporate Vice President of Windows Product Management Mike Nash explained how and when users can get the Windows Vista Service Pack (SP) 1 bits. Microsoft released Vista SP1 and Windows Server 2008 to manufacturing on February 4.

According to Nash, the schedule looks like this:

Update: Early March: SP1 bits will be made available to TechNet and Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) subscribers.

Mid-March: Microsoft releases SP1 to Windows Update in five languages (English, French, Spanish, German and Japanese) and to the download center on microsoft.com. "If Windows Update determines that the system has one of the drivers we know to be problematic, then Windows Update will not offer SP1," Nash explained. "Since we know that some customers may want to update to SP1 anyhow, the download center will allow anyone who wants to install SP1 to do so."

Mid-April: Microsoft begins delivering Vista SP1 via Automatic Update. "That said, any system that Windows Update determines has a driver known to not update successfully will not get SP1 automatically," Nash explained. "As updates for these drivers become available, they will be installed automatically by Windows Update, which will unblock these systems from getting Service Pack 1." (And remember, there is a Vista SP blocking tool available for users who don't want SP1 to install automatically.)

April: SP1 will RTM for the remaining languages.

PC makers are getting the Vista SP1 bits this week and will be able to start preloading Vista SP1 on new systems once they've sufficiently tested it. That could be weeks to a month, based on previous track records. Update: Microsoft is saying not to expect OEM preloads of Vista SP1 until April.

My biggest question today was why is it taking Microsoft so long to get the Vista SP1 bits into customers' hands? Nash's answer:

"Our beta testing identified an issue with a small set of device drivers. These drivers do not follow our guidelines for driver installation and as a result, some beta participants who were using Windows Vista and updated to Service Pack 1 reported issues with these devices. Because the issue was with the way the drivers were installed and not the drivers themselves, the solution was simply to reinstall the drivers. While this worked fine for our more technical beta testers, we want to deliver a better experience for customers as we make the update broadly available.

"While we know that most customers who update from Windows Vista to SP1 will NOT be affected, our approach is to improve the experience for all our customers. To do this, we will begin making SP1 available through Windows Update in mid-March, giving us time to work with some of our hardware partners to make adjustments to the installation process for the affected drivers. As SP1 gets delivered through Windows Update, we will only offer it to PCs that we detect don't have any of the affected device drivers installed. We're taking the next month or so to continue our work of identifying as many of these devices as possible."

I find it surprising the Vista team went ahead and RTM'd SP1 given these driver issues (even though the driver issues weren't technically Microsoft's fault). Sure, Microsoft wanted and needed to sync up Vista SP1 with Windows Server 2008. It's a calculated risk, especially given all the trouble Microsoft had with drivers not working right when the company first released Vista to manufacturing in November 2006.

What do you think? Should Microsoft have waited until March to RTM Vista SP1 so it could make the bits available immediately to users?