One of the long time standing IT mantras is that no version of Windows is worth it's salt any time before the first Service Pack hits the streets. There's two schools of thought on this tride and true so called rule of thumb. One is that the bugs have been all worked out over the passage of time. The other is that you aren't rolling out a platform only to spend weeks if not months with various patches to install.

While that maybe a good stratagy in the past the norm today is that you will be patching no matter what as no software leaves the *gold* status without a day of release patch on the horizon. Or there is the belief that with today's broadband connections you can always patch the product after its release with no real size limitations. Furthermore I place Patch Tuseday on the evidence table as a sign that a monthly patch cycle is now the norm rather than the exception.

But this time the Service Pack is more than a bunch of rollups and patches. In Vista the entire Kernel will be updated to make it seemlessly compatible with Vista/Longhorn/Whatever it will be named Server Edition to come out later this year. So MS isn't just trying to debunk the old adage just to speed up Vista adoption. Although it sure works out in their favor doesn't it?

Sadly for those who think that once Vista is released you are in the clear are a bit mistaken. And as a Beta Tester for various products it means that we go back under the knife with testing of the SP1 starting in March if all goes well.

Waiting for a SP1 shouldn't keep you from Vista if Vista is what you want. But if you heed my advice from July 06 you should really hold off until the summer anyway because your Assistive Technology of choice should have all the kinks worked out by then. Plus a new computer that is better suited for Office 07 and Vista will be far cheaper. Plus you really should go with a new box rather than Frankenstein up your existing system. And if your computer is more than two years old I really don't suggest the upgrade at all.

To learn more about Windows Vista Service Pack 1 read the link below.

http://apcmag.com/5098/microsoft_kick_starts_vista...