It's unusual, but confirmation of the availability of Windows Vista's first service pack came not from Microsoft Corp., but from the U.S. Department of Justice. Tucked into the government's 27-page joint status settlement report released late Tuesday was evidence that Microsoft will put the beta of Vista SP1 into users' hands before the end of the year. The report also confirmed Windows XP SP3, but did not specify beta or final release dates, although it said some code would be finalized this summer.

In the compromise struck between Microsoft and state and federal antitrust regulators, the company must make changes to Vista's desktop search tool so users and OEMs can pick a default search and indexing program to replace Vista's baked-in software for running Start menu searches. The user- or OEM-selected default must also be an option in searches initiated from Windows Explorer or the Control Panel.

Windows XP SP3 also gets a mention in the status report. In earlier updates filed with Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, who oversees the 2002 consent decree, Microsoft was ordered to make changes to Windows XP, an OEM pre-installation kit, and other software, including Internet Explorer. "Nearly all outstanding issues have been resolved and the remaining issues will be addressed in the coming weeks," the report said. According to the May 2006 status update, the government's technical committee was still discussing with Microsoft changes to XP's "Set Program Access and Defaults" feature, a tool that lets users choose default programs for browsing, e-mailing, instant messaging, and playing CDs.