Microsoft is delaying the rollout of Vista SP1 (Service Pack 1) for several weeks in order to address problems arising from the use of a small number of device drivers that do not conform to the software giants installation guidelines.
"We are going to stage our rollout of SP1 for current Windows Vista users to be approximately concurrent with the availability of Windows Vista SP1 on new PCs and in stores," said Windows Product Management Group spokesperson Mike Nash in a recent blog.
Microsoft said Vista SP1 will be available for purchase by new customers on March 1. However, volume-licensing customers with active Microsoft Software Assurance coverage or an Enterprise Agreement will be able to download the operating system toward the end of February, the software giant said.
Microsoft will be taking the next month or so to continue identifying as many of the noncomplaint drivers as possible, Nash said. "This will give us time to work with some of our hardware partners to make adjustments to the installation process for the affected drivers," he added.
THE REINSTALL OPTION
The performance issue reported by some beta testers had to do with the way the drivers were installed and not the drivers themselves, Nash said. "The solution was simply to reinstall the drivers," he explained.
However, the reinstall option is clearly not practical for enterprises with large bases of installed PCs with various vintages. Given that device manufacturers have had a year to bring their drivers up to snuff, it would not be fair to hold Microsoft solely responsible for the delay, industry observers say.
"Certainly device-driver vendors need to make sure they are following Microsofts guidelines and best practices for their products," noted Gartner Client Computing Vice President Michael Silver. "But many vendors dont want to spend the time and money to rewrite things so they work in the proper way."
IMPACT ON ENTERPRISES
The delay is not happy news for many enterprises that were counting on the updates release on schedule. "Four or six weeks delay is sufficient to throw a real monkey wrench into a tight Vista project planned for later in the year," Silver said.
On the other hand, Silver does not see this as being a huge issue for larger enterprises. "They should have enough smarts to take SP1, along with some guidance from Microsoft on where the problems lie, and at least do their testing with it," he said.
PC owners who receive Vista SP1 via Microsofts online Windows Update service will not have to sweat the device-driver problem. Any PC system that Windows Update determines has a driver known to not update successfully will not get SP1 automatically, Nash said.
"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," Nash said.
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