Vista SP1 in 2nd half 2007

Much like Vista itself, the state of the operating system's first service pack has been a little murky. First, it was promised in late 2007. Then, it looked like we may not see it until 2008. Now, it seems we've settled back on 2007, according to a leaked email to its testers.

Many have been looking forward to the upcoming release, hoping that it could fix some of the numerous little niggles in Microsoft's latest flagship product. Vista is far from broken as a release (in fact, it's probably way more stable than XP was at the time), but there have been numerous 'quirks.'

Vista Service Pack 1 was originally supposed to be out right around the same time as Longhorn Server, but Microsoft then put a pin in that balloon. The company changed its stance to not knowing when it would issue a service pack, saying it had "no timetable." That may actually be pretty believable, since the SP3 for Windows XP isn't even due out until 2008.

Of course, the newest emails put everything back on track and looking at a second half of 2007 release date, probably back to around Longhorn. Microsoft has yet to publicly release the information, however, for whatever reason. It is unknown why the date has been so closely guarded - we can only assume there were some problems with being sure some part would be completed on time.

Do you have a thought on the Vista SP1 secrets? Why is Microsoft not coming out and announcing the release? Tell us your ideas in our forums.