It might not be packed with new stuff, but next month's public beta is a major step for Windows 7 acceptance in the business arena
The launch of a Windows operating system Service Pack 1 is generally the time when big business finally upgrades to a new OS. Despite a lot of encouragement from analysts that Windows 7 was safe from launch, the economy and cautious approach from IT departments, has led to many still sitting on the fence and continuing to run Windows XP.
The news of Win 7 SP 1 was announced at
Microsoft's US TechEd conference which covers all things Windows and Windows Server, cloud, SharePoint and so on for developers. With all sorts of cool tricks and tools, plus high-level discussion of topics like business intelligence, it is generating a lot talking points.
Despite the great sales so far, Microsoft will be treating this as the point where it will expect the mega-bucks to start rolling in. The basic message is not to expect any new features, instead Service Pack 1 will be meet the pure definition of service pack -- a collection of already-distributed patches. Win 7's solid patch distribution model is one reason why Microsoft has been touting it since launch.
What that does leave unanswered is what will appear in Service Pack 2? That was the major update in the Windows XP lifecycle and was the pack that fixed a lot of the issues in Vista. What we see in that launch will perhaps give us some idea of where Windows' future lies as the desktop evolves further -- or perhaps Microsoft has created a yoke over its own back by issuing radical improvements in operating systems through service packs, creating an expectation that this will continue with Windows 7 and beyond.