Windows Vista SP1 Test AvailableWindows Vista SP1 Test Available

Microsoft has made the first public test version of Windows Vista SP1 available for free download. Yippee! Finally some help for the much-maligned operating system.But don't get your hopes up too high. This RC Refresh is no fix for small and midsize businesses. Instead, it's just a chance for techies to put the software through its paces and see how it works. Worse, it's time-limited to stop working on June 30, 2008.

If you're a medium size business, you'll probably want to have an IT staffer download it and check out its new features first hand -- on a test machine of course.

As The Register cheekily puts it:

Caution: If you install this on any mission-critical machinery you are quite simply mad. We are contacting the authorities. The nice men arriving shortly will make sure the voices go away forever. If you are among "individuals, organizations, and technical enthusiasts who are comfortable evaluating pre-release software," you can continue. And may God have mercy on your soul.

That's why small businesses really should wait till the real Vista Service Pack 1 is released, which Microsoft still promises this quarter.

Of course, Microsoft has already had to take back many of its statements regarding Vista, including the fact that ut wasn't going to make this Release Candidate Refresh available to the public at all, just to registered beta testers.

Why they did it, I can't say. Maybe they were trying to steal some thunder from the upcoming Macworld show?