According to a new post at ZD Net, we can expect Windows Vista SP1 Beta 1 next week. The final version may be ready in November 2007.
If Vista SP1 is released in November, the Windows client team will be sticking to a schedule company officials outlined a year ago, when the official plan of record was to release Vista SP1 and Windows Server 2008 (Longhorn Server) simultaneously.
Another observation: If Microsoft releases Vista SP1 in November, it will have been in beta for an unusually short four months. In the past, Microsoft Windows service packs could be in beta for a year or longer.
Microsoft officials have been wavering over what to say about SP1 for the past year. Throughout that time, a number of company execs wouldn’t even admit they were planning to release a service pack for Vista at all.