Windows 7 SP1 due in less than a year?
updated 06:30 pm EST, Mon November 2, 2009
Microsoft rushing Win 7 service pack
Despite having launched less than two weeks ago, Windows 7 is already on track to have its first service pack ready in less than a year, a timetable posted today suggests. Wzor, one of the sites that slipped out pre-release betas of Windows 7 earlier this year, says Microsoft is already aiming to release its first beta of Service Pack 1 to testers by December and to offer a public beta by January. After this and a second beta, Microsoft is scheduled have two release candidates and to release to manufacturing (RTM) as early as June or as late as August.
A proper availability date is unknown but may come sooner than for Windows 7 itself. Unlike for primary operating system releases, Microsoft's service packs usually have a shorter turnaround from RTM to availability as the company can post the download directly instead of waiting for physical copies to arrive.
Details of what SP1 would contain are equally mysterious. However, Windows 7 has contrasted sharply against Vista with a comparatively trouble-free launch that has gone without major compatibility or performance problems. Most Microsoft service packs usually roll existing bug fixes into a single, easier download but sometimes add new features, like improved Blu-ray support with Vista's last major update.
The update is nonetheless one of Microsoft's quickest turnarounds for a maintenance release to date and reflects improvements brought about by Windows Division head Steven Sinofsky. His control of the group is given much of the credit for Windows 7's much faster and more polished development cycle where Vista's development was forced to restart three years after Windows XP was available.
Apple, by comparison, operates on a very different cycle that releases major Mac OS X revisions every one to two years and introduces "rollup" updates every few months. [via Ars Technica]
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Jul 2009
i can't believe this
Microsoft knows lots of people will automatically wait for SP1 before even trying a new version of Windows. h***, Microsoft has trained them to do so. XP really drove this point home to both consumers and business, and Vista kicked all the early adopters in the nuts.
h***, Microsoft even pushed out a lame SP1 really quickly for Vista, just to try to get people/business to tryout Vista before upgrading to XP.
I would expect Microsoft to do the same to 7, to pump out a SP1 ASAP, just to get more people to switch to it instead of sticking with XP.