» The Vista From Here …

… Might not be great right now.

Microsoft’s woes with the long heralded but problematic replacement for Windows XP seem far from over.

Service Pack 1 (SP1), due for widespread release in mid-March 2008, has a worrysome knowledgebase article¹:

Service Pack 1 for Windows Vista is an important update for Windows Vista. Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) contains many security, reliability, and feature updates for Windows Vista. A program may experience a loss of functionality after you install Windows Vista SP1. However, most programs will continue to work as expected after you install Windows Vista SP1.

The list of programs affected includes several security-related applications, including BitDefender AV, Jiangmin KV Antivirus, and ZoneAlarm Security Suite.

The knowledgebase mentions “A supported version is now available” for most of the applications, but it’s still curious - What exactly did Microsoft change in Vista for “security and reliability” that involved blocking some security products from even running?

It’s fortunate that the knowledgebase and the “supported versions” vendors had to create to account for SP1’s changes have come out before the main roll-out of SP1, but it’s still a “twitch” - MSDN members have had access to SP1 for a little while already, but why wasn’t this spotted before SP1 was released to the public on any level?

This isn’t the first “major” oopsie with Vista SP1, Microsoft has already had to withdraw a recent patch² somewhat critical to SP1 because it stopped some PCs from booting properly after being applied.

What might be an even bigger distraction for Microsoft at the moment is the certification of a class action lawsuit³ against them in District Court last week, regarding claims made prior to the release of Vista and compatibility. Microsoft is having to borrow money for the first time in its history in its attempts to buy Yahoo!, the thought of a major class action suit of the scale this one could reach is likely not a pleasant one for investors.

All of which is likely little comfort to those people who upgraded to Vista and have had nothing but troubles to date. It appears Microsoft has realized how much goodwill it stands to lose if the amount of reported problems are anything to go by with regards to the number of users who are seriously hacked off with Vista, and has reportedly quietly started offering Vista to XP “downgrades”⁴. Personally, I think such a migration qualifies as an upgrade, but I’m not a PR specialist …

1. Source: The Register - Vista SP1 kills and maims security apps, utilities [back]
2. Source: The Register - Redmond puts key Vista upgrade on ice [back]
3. Source: The Register - Judge greenlights lawsuit against Microsoft [back]
4. Source: PC World - Vista Backlash: Microsoft Quietly Lets Vista Users Revert to XP [back]