Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Wednesday, 19 March 2008 20:43
Opinion and Analysis
Page 1 of 4
Yesterday was the day that Vista SP1 finally became available to
download via Windows Update – but incredibly, driver issues still some
otherwise qualifying users from getting the SP1 update. Guess what? I
have some of the affected drivers, including a Logitech webcam – so the
SP1 wait continues for me. Thank you yet again, Microsoft!
Microsoft Windows Vista Team blogger, Nick White,
announced
to the world yesterday that Vista SP1 was finally available for
download – but instead of just saying ‘go get it’ – you might find
yourself unable to download it through Windows update, even if you have
the right language versions, as there are 8 different reasons why SP1
might still not be ready to pop out of the oven for some users, and a
ninth ‘hidden’ reason revolving around Logitech webcams.
But the main – and seemingly incredibly ridiculous – problem is that
some of the driver issues that plagued and delayed SP1’s release back
in February, from the official RTM date of February 4th 2008, to March
18th 2008 – are still causing issues, meaning the wait for SP1 grinds
on for some, if not actually very many indeed.
Vista SP1 is available to users of the English, German, French,
Japanese and Spanish versions of Vista, as long as they have the
pre-requisite updates installed (which should have already come from
Windows Update) – and don’t have one of a handful of drivers which can
cause problems or a Logitech Quickcam (see page 3).
Unfortunately, this handful of drivers very much looks like it could
affect a whole swag of computers out there, meaning that today’s
release of SP1 isn’t really the release of SP1 at all, certainly not
for all users.
Yes, anyone with Vista Ultimate that has one of the 35 language packs
installed, or has any version of Vista in any language other than the
five mentioned above, will have to wait until mid-April before SP1 is
available – that’s already public knowledge, and has been for some
time.
But if, like me, you don’t have the latest driver versions for a very
select – yet seemingly quite widespread – set of drivers, or one of 7
other issues, or a Logitech webcam, Vista SP1 simply won’t come up as
being available on Windows Update.
Now I know that anyone with a valid Vista system can go and download the Vista SP1 update manually from Microsoft’s
download site.
But why in heaven’s name would I want to do that? The update is a
massive 434.5 MB in size, and contains many of the updates already
installed over the last year that are rolled up into SP1. What a waste
of bandwidth!
Even Microsoft warn users on the download page: “DO NOT CLICK DOWNLOAD
IF YOU ARE UPDATING JUST ONE COMPUTER: A smaller, more appropriate
download is available on Windows Update.”
But that, of course, is the problem. It’s not there to download in
Windows Update because of driver issues. And if Microsoft won’t release
SP1 to me because they know I have incompatible drivers, they’re
obviously scared it might somehow impair my machine. If Microsoft says
it STILL isn’t ready, I’m not going to argue with that.
So, what are those driver issues, what are the 7 other reasons why SP1
won’t install, and why should I risk my otherwise excellent Vista
installation without the latest drivers, even though WinSuperSite’s
Paul Thurrot claims the hardware/driver issues are ‘insignificant’?
I mean, really, what the heck is going on? Why can’t Microsoft get SP1 right?
Please read onto page 2.
