Microsoft ended up postponing the public launch because of problems with some
device drivers that failed to properly reinstall after the upgrade. The company
cited "mid-March" as its release time frame, and since tomorrow is this month's
"patch Tuesday" (the second Tuesday of the month, during which Microsoft
traditionally rolls out security patches) ComputerWorld says many are banking on
SP1's release. Adding weight to that prediction, Amazon currently pins a March
18 release date on its retail-boxed copies of Windows Vista with SP1
pre-installed.
If all goes as predicted, users will be able to grab the service pack from
Windows Update on Tuesday. However, those expecting it to show up through
Vista's Automatic Updates system will be disappointed. ComputerWorld says
Microsoft doesn't plan to push out SP1 through Automatic Updates until some time
in April. Not all users will be eligible, either: those with device drivers
known to cause problems won't be offered the update at all.