In the past, deploying other languages besides English meant deploying an entirely separate edition of Windows. You just can't lay languages like Russian and Japanese on top of XP Pro. Even worse, service packs and hot fixes must be pushed separately for each language edition. While this is not too bit a deal if you are dealing with only one language, on a network where you support more than one language, this could be a real pain.

Windows Vista is a modularized OS, meaning that every edition of Vista sits on top of a common base (referred to as MinWin). This contains the core functionality of the OS-- in fact, Microsoft says this base contains about 95% of Vista's functionality. To get another edition or language, you just add the appropriate module on top of the base. In fact, Vista has no language-specific code at all. It is language-agnostic to the degree that not even English is in the base OS.

In the end, this means it is going to be much easier to deploy editions and languages and the language for service packs and hotfixes no longer need be a concern. Hearing so much negative about Vista and how difficult it makes things, I think it is all the more important to point out things like this. Making things easier on users often means more difficult on administrators-- but here is something just for the Admins this time (your users could care less!)