Microsoft has been saying there is no trial version of a Service Pack 1 for Vista, but Ars Technica reports that The World's Largest Software Company has released a "sneak peek" of several patches on its Windows Connect download service for beta testers of Windows Server 2008 -- but the patches are intended for Vista as well.The patches tackle such Vista problems as the "time remaining" bug when copying files, performance improvements for file operations, faster resume from Hibernate, and, significantly, compatibility of Windows Vista with video drivers.

Back in January, with Vista barely out the door, Microsoft sent a letter to business customers in its Technology Adoption Program saying it was already beginning to prepare an update "for its release in the second half of CY07."

It might have been intended as a relationship-builder, but instead of good PR it immediately stirred up speculation about what could need fixing in Vista so quickly.

It would be "a standard service pack that will include security updates, hotfixes, as well as limited other changes focused on improving quality," according to the letter, but one other thing that's expected is a get-out-of-jail-free fix that would change the way Vista's desktop search works.

Microsoft agreed with the U.S. Justice Department that it would modify desktop search after Google complained that it was hard to disable and slowed Google's desktop search product to a crawl when both ran together.