Screenshots of the first Service Pack for Windows 7 show that, so far, its just an accumulation of patches - which most users should already be on top of.
Russian websites have shown screenshots of a leaked version of Windows 7 Service Pack 1 up and running. Reports say that the pack consists mostly of the huge number of fixes that are already available via Windows Update, so many in fact that the file lurking on torrent sites is 1.2GB.
A whole lot of updates, but no new tricks Microsoft's Windows 7 Team blog discusses the forthcoming update , and notes that updates is about all we can expect, bar a couple of new Remote Desktop features, that link in to the Server 2008 SP which is on a parallel track. They state:
"For Windows Server 2008 R2, SP1 will be introducing two new desktop virtualization features: Microsoft RemoteFX and Dynamic Memory. These features are designed to meet the increasing needs of our customers as they utilize virtualization in their environments with Windows Server 2008 R2.
For Windows 7, SP1 includes only minor updates, among which are previous updates that are already delivered through Windows Update. SP1 for Windows 7 will, however, deliver an updated Remote Desktop client that takes advantage of RemoteFX introduced in the server-side with SP1 for Windows Server 2008 R2."
Perhaps its the launch of all these sexy phone and game console updates that rejuvenate the whole user experience, throw in new tricks and features, but maybe we're asking too much of OS updates now. Windows 7 as a consumer experience really needs a kick in the pants from time to time to keep it ticking along. Hopefully, Microsoft will learn this quickly enough to add something attractive.