More on Software Updates

Some posts that showed up in my feed over the past week or so regarding Vista SP 1....

• Review: Microsoft Windows Vista Service Pack 1
  


• A Second Shot: Windows Vista SP1
  


• Microsoft Pulls Vista SP1 Update
  


• Microsoft Decides Vista SP1 x64 Is Ready for Release
  


• Vista SP1 is a bad dance partner for some applications
  


• Vista SP1 Is Even Less Compatible
  


• Did Amazon Induce Vista's Premature Birth?

What a mess! Meanwhile, Apple released the fourth version update for the iPhone yesterday. Granted it's not as large as Vista, but it is an update.

A Tale of Operating System Updates

Why does it take Microsoft so long to release updates for their operating system?

Vista was released a little over a year ago (November 8, 2006) and the first update (SP - Service Pack) is semi-available. See Vista SP1 Release May Be Near, Microsoft Upgrades Vista Kernel in SP1, SP1 Unsuccessful in Preventing Vista Hacks, or TechNet Users Revolt Over Vista SP1 Unavailability for details/commentary on the release of SP 1.

The previous version of Windows, Windows XP, was recently updated (see Microsoft releases Windows XP SP3 RC2 for details). That is about six and a half years since the original release date of October 25, 2001.

On the other hand, OS X 10.5 (Leopard), was released October 1, 2007. OS X 10.5.2 was released on February 11, 2008. That's two updates in less than five months. For some users, these were critical, but for many of us it was not.

The original question remains: Why does it take Microsoft so long to release updates for their operating system?