Windows Vista SP1 Is Almost Upon Us

Last week, Microsoft released Windows Vista Service Pack 1 Release Candidate (or Windows Vista SP1 RC) to the general public. This was the last step to be taken before the official release of SP1 next quarter.

As Forrester has recently written, we think desktop operations professionals will start to get serious about deploying Windows Vista enterprise-wide after the release of SP1. Our conversations with clients have varied in scope but include businesses that:

• Have already implemented Windows Vista in some of their business units.
• Are deep into hardware and application compatibility testing now.
• Are taking a wait-and-see approach.
• Are strongly considering skipping Windows Vista altogether.

Our question, then, to readers: Are you interested in hearing about the improvements around reliability, performance, and support for new types of hardware and emerging standards that SP1 will bring? Or does it ultimately not matter because the biggest driver for Windows Vista is to simply stay current with Microsoft’s support lifecycle — and the migration will happen regardless of what’s contained in SP1 or not?

We suspect most IT operations professionals have little interest in such announcements until Windows Vista SP1 has been officially released, but we’d like to hear from you if you feel differently.

By Benjamin Gray

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