Microsoft already planning Vista service pack

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Main motivation is Longhorn Server

"I have a feeling that their sole motivation for providing such a service pack is to drive business support."

That is traditionally the one of the main purposes of the first service pack for any version of Windows. For example, XP SP1 which was released in the same timeframe (less than 1 year after XP RTM).

However, that's less important now. Why? Microsoft has a solid mechanism for making the most important and critical updates available to customers, and it's called Windows Update. Many people wonder what the future of service pack means, given that WU makes it easy for customers to stay current.

So what is the main motivation for the timing of Vista SP1? (Note, I won't say "sole" motivation because there are always several factors at play.)

The main motivation is Longhorn Server. At some point (several years ago) they made the decision that Longhorn Server would be released ~1yr after Longhorn Client (Vista). So, what do you do?

With XP and 2003, they forked the source code and ended up with two completely separate source trees: XP (NT 5.1) and 2003 (NT 5.2). This unfortunately led to huge servicing costs: service packs for each are separate efforts; separate security updates need to be provided for each; etc.

So with Longhorn, they decided not to fork the code. Instead, they'd release Longhorn Client (NT 6.0), and then build the server product on top of that, as with a service pack. Thus, when Longhorn Server is released, it will still be NT 6.0 -- however it will be NT 6.0 SP1, containing the same code as Vista SP1. There will be no SP "0" of Longhorn Server.

Going forward, service packs and security updates for Vista and Longhorn Server will be the same. Vista SP2 will be the same as Longhorn Server SP2. A security update for Vista SP1 will be the same exact update as for Longhorn Server.

That is why Vista SP1 is arriving when it is.

Posted by: PB_z   Posted on: 01/23/07 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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