Windows 7 Service Pack 1 - release date confirmed

Pete

Pete

Bright Spark
meh, unless you're waiting for a specific fix; these days a service pack is just a collection of hotfixes rolled into one.
back in the day they used to add a few new features but with the new OS only 12 months away.
 
pengipete

pengipete

Rising Star
Pete said:
meh, unless you're waiting for a specific fix; these days a service pack is just a collection of hotfixes rolled into one.
back in the day they used to add a few new features but with the new OS only 12 months away.
Click to expand...

Signs are that there's little in SP1 for W7 users - as you say, it's mostly a roll-up. The interesting stuff is for Server edition users.

I think the idea of service packs being "exciting" all stems from the early XP service packs - especially SP2 - as they included major new components and some visible changes to the interface. All the service packs before and since have been seen as a let-down by bloggers and enthusiasts despite the fact that Microsoft have never really promoted them as being more than important but otherwise normal updates. It just happened that Windows 7 coincided very nicely with the latest hardware tech so there are no major changes required at the moment.

As for "Windows 8" - if that appears in less than two years, I'll eat my dog. Windows 7 is a smash-hit for Microsoft (especially coming after the hammering that Vista - unfairly in my opinion - received) and new PCs have been selling well despite the poor economy as people want the new OS and also move over 64bits as the new standard - at last. If Microsoft rush out another operating system now, they'll get a huge backlash of ill-feeling from the multiple millions of people who have only just bought W7 (or a PC with W7 installed as many people don't see the difference) - especially outside of America where an upgrade costs almost as much as the full version.

I suspect we'll see something like "Windows 8" on mobile devices a bit sooner but the PC version won't be released for quite a while yet. In fact, I wouldn't be at all surprised to see some major tech advance precede W8 - like 128bit computing or a big move over to tablets - with W8 actually being specifically tailored to ride that wave. If you recall, it was widely rumoured even before W7 was released that it would be Microsoft's last "normal" operating system and there were various articles claiming to "know" that the next MS offering would be a very minimalistic OS with most features being "cloud" based. I don't know about you but I can't see that going down too well in the UK where great swathes of the country are unlikely to get decent broadband - if any - this side of 2018.

As they say, time will tell.
 
Tom DWC

Tom DWC

Moderator
Moderator
Agree with you completely - Microsoft have done a great job with Windows 7 and I'll be using it for quite some time. It has support until early 2015 at the moment.

Even if the service pack is just a roll-up of hot fixes that suits me just fine. It always makes a reinstall that much easier.
 
Gorman

Gorman

Author Level
I agree with Pengipete, nothing new about dull service packs.

All i know is that i have to make a boatload of new images now, yay!
 
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