Contrary to rumors which were reported around the web earlier this week regarding the final ship dates for Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) and Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3), those dates are reportedly the dates Microsoft will start to get vendors up to speed so they can prepare for the launch of the final products.

Late yesterday afternoon, Microsoft released their official timeframe for Windows Vista SP1 in response to the rumors that were flying around the web. According to sources Microsoft released the following timeframe for the release of Windows Vista SP1:

Milestone 1 (Feb 4, 2008): Available to OEM and Retail Channel Milestone 2 (Early March 2008): Vista SP1 …

Microsoft has launched a new beta program for it’s Microsoft Game Studio, the company has a lot of opportunities for gamers looking to test out the latest and greatest coming from Microsoft Game Studios.

To potentially be invited participate in one of the upcoming beta programs for Microsoft Game Studio, you will need to fill out a simple survey on Microsoft Connect and you will be notified via email when you get invited to an upcoming beta for Microsoft Game Studio.

You can access the survey by clicking here.  We will be using this new profile survey to select participants into …

UPDATE: Please see Windows Vista SP1 Official Timeframe for information on the final ship date for Windows Vista SP1

While Microsoft only released the final code of the much anticipated Windows Server 2008, Windows Vista Service Pack 1 and Windows XP SP3 to manufacturers only yesterday, it appears Microsoft may have changed its official launch plans for the two service pack releases.

Yesterday, the company stated it would not release either product until mid-march and now it looks like they will be releasing Windows Vista SP1 much earlier than first anticipated. While Microsoft will be releasing Windows Vista SP1 earlier than expected, it should be noted that only those that do not have a conflicting driver will get the update via …

Today Microsoft has released Service Pack 1 for Windows Vista to manufacturing (RTM) for the first set of languages (English, French, Spanish, German and Japanese).

Windows Vista Service Pack 1 is a very important milestone because it addresses many of the key issues that customers have identified with Windows Vista over the last year both, directly and through programs like the Customer Experience Improvement Program. With Service Pack 1, Microsoft has made great progress in performance, reliability and compatibility.

Performance improvements vary from PC to PC based on hardware, environment, scenarios, and usage, so different customers will experience varying levels of benefits. About 20-25% …

After a long road to completion, Microsoft has officially released the long-awaited Windows Server 2008 to manufacturing. The long road to RTM for Windows Server 2008 is now over, with the product now released to manufacturing, Microsoft will officially launch Windows Server 2008 on February 27, 2008 in Los Angeles, California.

Microsoft has finally completed it’s long over due update to Windows Server in over 4 years, Microsoft last release of a Windows Server client was the release of Windows Server 2003 R2, that however, is a minor update compared to the new forthcoming Windows Server 2008 product launch in a couple of weeks.

Windows Server 2008  …