Microsoft has been awfully coy about the existence–or lack thereof–of Windows Vista SP1 during the past few months. Despite the release of various fixes and the leaking of a number of pre-betas, Microsoft’s official policy has been that Vista SP1 is “not coming anytime soon,” if at all.

Now, after months of playing us hot and cold, Microsoft has finally unveiled the release schedule for Vista SP1. A beta will be released to between 10,000 and 15,000 pre-selected beta testers in mid-September, with a public beta slated to be released around the same time as the SP1 release candidate. No word on when that will be, though the final SP1 should be released to the public in Q1 2008. Microsoft says that SP1 will touch on “a significant number” of components in Vista and will feature all of the previously-released fixes as well as most of the features seen in the leaked pre-betas.

In other Microsoft news, the company also announced today that Windows Server 2008 will be delayed and will be released to manufacturing in Q1 2008, instead of Q4 2007 as originally planned.

For more on Vista SP1 and Windows Server 2008:
– see this ZDnet story