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If Microsoft's $44.6 billion Yahoo bid tells us anything, it's that Vista doesn't matter. But some in Redmond have not gotten the memo: "New customers should feel great about buying Windows Vista today," blogs Microsoft executive Mike Nash. The source of his optimism? Windows Vista Service Pack 1 has been released to manufacturing, beginning Microsoft's arduous, 20th-century industrial process of a software rollout. Nash's main concern is that the news might stop users from buying Vista. He shouldn't be worried.

That's because Vista itself provides ample reason why customers might not feel great about buying Windows Vista. SP1 is not as much an upgrade as a set of belated repairs, addressing some of Vista's crippling slowness. We'd heard a rumor that SP1 might be delayed until next year. Not so. Apparently, our source just meant "a version of Vista worth shipping." Due date? Never.