Vista Service Pack 1 beta penned for July

THE BETA VERSION of Windows Vista Service Pack 1 is scheduled to arrive within the next couple of weeks, according to Vole-spotters.

Posting on ZDNet, Mary Jo Foley suggests that the beta will arrive in the week of July 16, with the full release going out some time in November.

This would track with original Microsoft semi-unofficial estimates as to the timeline for a Service Pack, since Windows Server 2008 is also due to go RTM in November this year - and SP1 will almost certainly include a client update to revise the client in line with Server 08.

Many corporate clients - including, ironically, Intel and Dell - have been holding off deploying Vista to wait for the first Service Pack to improve performance and stability. Microsoft clearly knows this, and is looking to overcome that 'wait for the first revision' mentality ASAP.

Other sources have it that the update won't be available before next year. µ