More Windows Vista SP1 sightings (and frustrations)

The more Microsoft tries to keep a lid on Windows Vista Service Pack (SP) 1 information, the more testers and customers are going out of their way to find leaks.

There was much ado at last month's Windows Hardware Engineering Conference (WinHEC) over a Vista SP1 sighting during a presentation.

On June 7, several bloggers noted that Microsoft had posted for download via the Microsoft Downloads site "Windows Automated Installation Kit Documentation (Windows Server code named "Longhorn" & Windows Vista SP1) Beta 3." (Unfortunately, there was nothing specific in the ReadMe about Vista SP1. I checked.)

Also this week, the Windows Connected site noted that there were some remote server admin tools due out around the time of SP1. Again, no word on when that might be.

Readers have been sending me Vista SP1 sightings, as well. One, who asked not to be named noted that on Page 23 of the June 2007 edition of TechNet Magazine, there's an article that mentions Vista SP1. Article author Joseph Davies notes that "A computer running Windows Vista (with enhancements planned in the forthcoming Service Pack 1, currently scheduled for release later this year."

Another sent me a link to a thread in a Microsoft IIS 7.0 support forum that mentions a fix for an IIS 7.0-related bug would be part of Vista SP1 which is "coming soon."

Microsoft's secrecy around Windows client futures is backfiring. Not everyone wants to get their Vista fixes in dribs and drabs via Windows Update -- especially not corporate customers. If SP1 really is due later this year, as we keep hearing, it would seem Microsoft might want to get a significant volume of testers in the loop at this point to make sure it's ready to roll.