Tuesday's move followed the debut of the first five languages -- English, French, German, Japanese and Spanish -- posted by Microsoft to the Windows Update (WU) service on March 18. Before that, the company had warned customers that it would issue SP1 in two waves, and said the follow-on languages would probably be issued this month.
When Microsoft unveiled SP1 via WU, users griped about not being able to download the service pack because of balky device drivers. As an alternative, Microsoft made available a much larger standalone installer that ignores any possible driver issues. The installer was also updated today to support all 36 languages, and is available in 32-bit and 64-bit editions.
Microsoft had also slated automatic download and installation of SP1 for "mid-April," possibly earlier, but the mid-point of the month came and went Tuesday without the company pushing the service pack to every eligible Vista user. Instead, users must call up Windows Update and manually select the still-optional download.
When asked to pin down the automatic download date, a spokeswoman e-mailed a cryptic statement that read: "We want to ensure customers have the best possible experience with Windows Vista, including installing SP1; this has always been our priority. Until SP1 is automatically distributed via Windows Update, consumers are able to download SP1 manually using Windows Update."
The company also plans to release Service Pack 3 (SP3) for Windows XP in two waves defined by language support, according to a report last month. That account listed Chinese, English, French, German, Japanese, Korean and Spanish versions as in the first wave.
Today, a new report said Microsoft will stamp SP3 as RTM (release to manufacturing) next Monday, April 21. The same report said Windows XP SP3 would be available through Windows Update beginning April 29.
