Unlike Windows Vista, for which the first service pack is regarded as the catalyst of a clean start rather than a natural stage in the operating system's evolution, Office 2007 SP1 comes as nothing more than a breath of fresh air. While it too softens some of the rough edges, Office 2007 SP1 lacks the pressure put on the impending Vista SP1 to breath new life to the latest Windows client. In fact, Microsoft developed Office 2007 SP1 in the background of Vista SP1, Windows XP SP3 and Windows Server 2008's development milestones, and managed to release the final version on December 11. The announcement of Office 2007 SP1's imminence dropped ahead of the download links, but at this point in time, the service pack is live and can be grabbed right here on Softpedia.

"SP1 provides stability and performance improvements across the 2007 Office system, keying in on customers' leading productivity concerns, and beefs up security precautions to stay ahead of the latest threats from malicious software and other risks", revealed Microsoft Office product manager Reed Shaffner. "The team worked hard with SP1 to make our products more stable. SP1 also provides key fixes and enhancements to make the 2007 Office system more reliable and easier to use. We also did a lot of work to improve the reliability of the 2007 Office system's server components with SP1. Finally, SP1 bolsters the robust security standards built into Office 2007 by incorporating the very latest advances in security technology to deliver even greater protection against malware, privacy intrusions and other threats."

Microsoft underlined the reliability, performance and security enhancements delivered to the Office 2007 System via Service Pack 1. But at the same time, users interested in getting an insight into the complete set of improvements, brought to the table by Office 2007 SP1, can grab the "2007 Microsoft Office System Service Pack 1 White Paper". According to Reed Shaffner, Product Manager for Enterprise, as cited by William Cornwill, a Microsoft SharePoint Technology Solutions Professional, Office 2007 SP1 features in excess of 2,500 fixes, 500 of which are focused on security.

"The enhancements and fixes in SP1 are the result of extensive testing from end-users participating in our early-adopter Technology Adoption Program as well as our own internal testing", Shaffner added, at the same time giving an explanation why Microsoft managed to beat its own deadline for the availability of Office 2007, initially planned for the first quarter of 2008. "Our development team was able to deliver the enhancements and fixes earlier than we'd anticipated, so we wanted to get them in the hands of customers as soon as possible."