Vista had it's fair share of delays, and when it was finally released some basic functionality maybe wasn't quite as good as Microsoft would have liked. Well now Microsoft have a chance to improve windows with the first major Vista update - Service Pack 1. Vista SP1, which is due later this month is expected to address and hopefully fix a number of small flaws in the Vista OS and bundled applications as well as add back in a number of core functions that had to be stripped at the last minute due to deadlines. Like service packs that came before on previous versions of Windows, Service Pack 1 is expected to be provided as a free download from the Microsoft site with copies available on CD ROM upon request for a small fee (making it easier for larger companies and institutions to install the upgrade on all Vista machines). It is still unknown what the bulk of the updates in Service Pack 1 will include but it is fairly safe to say that the big M will address any security flaws that have been identified and will do their usual "tweaking" of features. The general view online is that earlier adopters could expect the update to become available as soon as this month however an official release in November is likely. An exact launch date for the beta version has been suggested as 16th July, but the validity of this claim remains to be seen. So what else can we expect? Areas adressed are rumoured to include performance optimisations, reduced CPU usage (maybe opening Vitsa up to lower-spec machines), faster start-up and shut-down times, additional file systems support and a fix to improve on file transfer times. Adoption of Windows Vista has been relatively slow to catch on but we can expect that to improve if these issues are addressed effectively. | 
