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[Richard]

A senior Microsoft official said the company doesn?t plan to issue a major service pack for Windows Vista because the operating system is ?high quality right out of the gate.? Another reason is that new tools such as Windows Update allow Microsoft to dribble out smaller fixes to its new OS whenever necessary.

?Will we continue to have service packs? Yes we will,? said Michael Sievert, corporate VP for Windows marketing at Microsoft. ?But they have a different level of importance today as people get their updates in real-time using Windows Update,? said Sievert, according to a transcript of a conference call he held Monday with financial analysts.

As a result, Sievert said Microsoft won?t release a ?big bang? service pack for Windows Vista similar in size and scope to Windows XP Service Pack 1, which was issued in 2002 with mixed results. That 30-Mbyte download was designed to patch major security holes, improve Windows XP?s overall performance, and help Microsoft comply with U.S. Department of Justice mandates.

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[El Guru (Al)]

Another reason is that new tools such as Windows Update allow Microsoft to dribble out smaller fixes to its new OS whenever necessary.

That makes sense since most everyone has access to the Internet now (and more so to broadband). 

[MetaMan]

Also, it is a good idea if MS doesn't wait until they release a Service Pack to deliver fixes, no matter what size they are.

[Nogg3r5]

I alwasys thouht service packs were used to roll out features that missed the original release :S

[MetaMan]

They shouldn't wait to deliver those, either.  I meant to imply that in my earlier post.

[Ryan Wagner]

I would love to see new features rolled out over time instead of the one "big bang" as well. I'm hoping that by not releasing a big service pack that doesn't mean they won't add new stuff at some point or another.

In the past though a big reason for service packs is to make it easier for people to install Windows. For example, for each service pack that Microsoft released for Windows XP they also updated the copy that consumers could buy so that it was up-to-date right out of the box. If the discs themselves were never updated then consumers would have to download 100's of megabytes of Windows Updates everytime they reformat their PC's.

In Vista it's not so bad because the updates are downloaded in the background without needing to have Internet Explorer open, but in XP you have to leave the browser open the whole time which can be a real pain.

[Island Dog]

I agree.  I'd rather have continuous updates than waiting for one "special" pack.