Vista: Why move to SP1?

Stan Beer
Monday, 24 March 2008 06:58

Opinion and Analysis

The first question I have is why move to SP1 when there appears to be mounting evidence suggesting that it's not safe to do so yet? Am I willing to take the chance that my install will proceed smoothly?

If I do take the leap of faith, I'm told that I should use something like Norton Ghost or Acronis True Image 11 to make a complete image-based backup of my entire hard drive, in the (perhaps unlikely, perhaps not) event that SP1 will eat my Vista installation. That's nice to know, if not very confidence inspiring.

But my view is why risk it at all? With Vista SP1, Microsoft is clearly still in beta test mode, whether it's prepared to admit it or not. Vista is a great OS just as it is. Before taking the plunge with Vista SP1, I will want to know exactly from Microsoft what it is going to do to make life easier for me. Right now, all I'm hearing from Vista users is how SP1 is making life harder.