During a conference call on Monday morning, Steve Ballmer, Microsoft CEO, announced a new milestone for Windows Vista. The widely-expected Windows Vista Service Pack 1, the first major update released since the November 2007 launch of Windows Vista, is now RTM. In the software world, the RTM defines the version that will be burned on the distribution discs and shipped to the customers.

Microsoft hopes that the release of Windows Vista Service Pack 1 will boost the adoption of its latest OS in the enterprise environment.

"We think we are turning the corner in terms of enterprise adoption and deployment and we think Service Pack 1 will be a big boon," Ballmer told analysts during the Monday morning presentation.

According to Microsoft, Windows Vista SP1 will not add new features, but instead it will address key feedback received from its customers. Also the company insisted that the SP1 will not affect any applications that are currently running on Windows Vista.

Also, Microsoft said that the Service Pack 1 will improve existing features. For example, the service pack improves the performance of the desktop shell, but it does not provide a new search user interface or a new version of Windows Media Center.

“SP1 also includes changes focused on improving the performance of Windows Vista in areas that impact the customer experience the most.  For instance, with SP1, copying or moving files around your PC, your home network or your corporate network should now be much faster -- up to 50% faster in some scenarios (according to our internal tests).  In addition, on many kinds of hardware, resuming a Windows Vista-based PC from sleep is faster on Service Pack 1,” said Mike Nash, Microsoft’s Corporate Vice President on Windows Vista official blog.

Also SP1 will enhance BitLocker Drive Encryption (BDE) by offering an additional multifactor authentication method that combines a key protected by the Trusted Platform Module (TPM) with a Startup key stored on a USB storage device and a user-generated personal identification number (PIN).

For notebook users Windows Vista SP 1 could mean better battery life, as Microsoft reduced the CPU utilization

Many of the changes in Windows Vista SP1 will address also the administration Experience. Administratos will surely appreciate the improvements to Group Policy management.

In the SP1 timeframe, administrators can download an out-of-band release that will give them the ability to add comments to Group Policy Objects (GPOs) or individual settings and search for specific settings.

Mike Nash announced also the  the timing for SP1 availability for current Windows Vista users. “In mid-March, we will release Windows Vista SP1 to Windows Update (in English, French, Spanish, German and Japanese) and to the download center on microsoft.com.  Customers who visit Windows Update can choose to install Service Pack 1.  If Windows Update determines that the system has one of the drivers we know to be problematic, then Windows Update will not offer SP1.  Since we know that some customers may want to update to SP1 anyhow, the download center will allow anyone who wants to install SP1 to do so” he wrote.
 
“In mid-April, we will begin delivering Windows Vista SP1 to Windows Vista customers who have chosen to have updates downloaded automatically”, he added. The remaining languages will RTM in April.

Besides, Windows Vista Service Pack 1, Microsoft announced that Windows Server 2008, the successor of Windows Server 2003, has also reached the RTM status.