Tag Archive: Mike Nash

If you want to try out Service Pack 2 (SP2) for Vista, you’re in luck. From Thursday it will be available to everyone, Microsoft has announced.

A select group has had the code since October, and MSDN and TechNet members can already get it, Vnunet reports, but the company now feels it’s stable enough for more people to try. However, to obtain it you’ll need to join Microsoft’s Customer Preview Program (CPP).

Be warned, though, that the beta isn’t for everyone. In a blog posting, Mike Nash, Microsoft’s corporate vice president for Windows Product Management, noted:

Microsoft may have known that computers branded “Windows Vista Capable” were inadequate for its operating system, according to new evidence unveiled in a lawsuit against the company. The class action suit was filed a year ago in Washington by customers to who felt Microsoft’s label was misleading. According to SeattlePI, the plaintiff’s lawyers used internal Microsoft e-mails at a hearing on Friday to show that Microsoft employees knew there was an issue.

It’s rare that a company has to forcefully kill off a product that continue to sell, but that’s exactly what Microsoft has planned to do with Windows XP in order to spur sales of its newer Windows Vista operating system. The trouble is, not everyone’s happy about it: Consumer feedback has prompted Microsoft to stay XP’s date of execution for five months.

With the release of Vista, Microsoft originally stated that Windows XP would continue to sit on store shelves and appear in new computers until January 30, 2008. With that date quickly approaching, the company announced yesterday that the new date would be June 30, 2008, due to clear feedback from “customers who needed a bit more time.”