Soon after the first beta build of Vista SP2 was sent out back in October, Microsoft told testers that it was planning a release candidate build and a final build afterward, but did not give any specific launch dates. According to Malaysian website TechARP.com, however, which has accurately predicted several Windows launches in the past, the operating system's next service pack will land in April next year.

The service pack will update both Vista and Windows Server 2008, and will require SP1 as a prerequisite to avoid making it cumulative and therefore much larger in size. As previously reported, Microsoft's next and potentially last major update to Windows Vista will include Windows Search 4.0, the Bluetooth 2.1 feature pack, native Blu-ray burning and a simplified tool for configuring Wi-Fi.