Ever since Vista was released, there has been discussion of when Microsoft would deliver SP1, and whether or not that delivery would be a significant milestone in the OS's development. Microsoft has downplayed the importance of Vista service packs for months, arguing that Vista is "high quality right out of the gate," but in the eyes of many businesses and consumers, the release of an operating system's first service pack is the point at which the product begins to shift from "early release" to "mature product."

Microsoft has released Vista's SP1 to a group of select beta testers, but a Windows Update spoof has been discovered that allows any user to unofficially "join" that group. CyberNet News reports (via Ghacks) that a simple registry change will display Windows Vista SP1 as an available update ready for download. Installation of the beta will place an "Evaluation" watermark on the screen, but Ghacks has information on removing this as well. We don't recommend doing this on your main system—the service pack is still in beta, after all—but it's potentially useful as an early preview tool for anyone who can load Vista on a secondary system or test rig.

News source: Ars.Technica


There are 15 additional comments
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(3 replies) Quote this comment Reply to this comment #1 Posted by XerXis on 17 Oct 2007 - 08:53
doesn't seem to work
Quote this comment #1.1 Posted by Sheppard on 17 Oct 2007 - 08:59
Yes it does, im running SP1 now.
Quote this comment #1.2 Posted by maxsquared on 17 Oct 2007 - 09:17
Ye, it works, but you need to do a few litte updates before the sp1 will show up.
Quote this comment #1.3 Posted by XerXis on 17 Oct 2007 - 09:50
yeah, i installed the three little updates that were needed and showed up, but i can't see sp1 now probably because i have a dutch vista.

In any case, wouldn't this be considered illegal? the same as downloading it from a torrent
(2 replies) Quote this comment Reply to this comment #2 Posted by Neobond on 17 Oct 2007 - 09:27
You guys realize this is a beta right?
Quote this comment #2.1 Posted by Glassed Silver on 17 Oct 2007 - 10:44
honestly.. what can you break in vista when it deserves a treatment badly?
seriously, if i had vista installed atm (have my copy laying around and i'm looking forward to install it when its mature and gaming ready for me) id so install that beta, i mean... for me it couldnt get worse i guess haha

Glassed Silver:mac
Quote this comment #2.2 Posted by hardgiant on 18 Oct 2007 - 04:59
Quote - (Neobond said @ #1)
You guys realize this is a beta right?


Windows is always beta!
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #3 Posted by barteh on 17 Oct 2007 - 09:36
considering this for my main machine, but i dont want problems when the full SP1 is released. think i will wait.
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #4 Posted by [DGS] on 17 Oct 2007 - 10:44
can some1 please add "BETA" on the title ??
there are a lot of newbies around ..
(1 reply) Quote this comment Reply to this comment #5 Posted by subcodec on 17 Oct 2007 - 11:52
Sure, SP1 is still in BETA....but.....isn't Vista RTM in BETA too??
Quote this comment #5.1 Posted by boho on 17 Oct 2007 - 13:47
ooof!... How dare you! That's far too close to the truth! I'm bored with Vista, and I'm not even running it!
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #6 Posted by vetneufuse on 17 Oct 2007 - 13:46
Not really a spoof when MS themselves told us how to do it in private....
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #7 Posted by vetneufuse on 17 Oct 2007 - 13:54
BTW You guys do know this is timebombed right?
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #8 Posted by M118LR on 17 Oct 2007 - 14:48
Does anyone know where in the Registry the Key is added for Update to work with SP1?
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #9 Posted by Sonic2k on 17 Oct 2007 - 22:30
Does the SP Beta Uninstall cleanly ??
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