The first half of the year

Jul 13, 2010 11:29 GMT  ·  By

Microsoft might appear that is moving extremely fast with the development process of the first service pack for Windows 7, but fact of the matter is that the upgrade will not be offered to the public this year. The Redmond company started sharing details about Service Pack 1 for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 earlier this year.

On the first day of the company’s Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC) 2010, the software giant announced the release of the first Beta development milestone for Windows 7 SP1 Beta and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 Beta, offering the actual bits just hours after the official announcement.

However, Microsoft also contradicted previous predictions related to the availability of Windows 7 SP1. Whereas speculations previously had the service pack penned for a late 2010 release, the Redmond company confirmed officially that Windows 7 SP1 will only become generally available in the first half of 2011.

“SP1 for Windows 7 does not contain any new features specific to Windows 7. However, the new features in SP1 for Windows Server 2008 R2 benefit Windows 7 by providing a richer Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) experience. For Windows 7, SP1 is simply a combination of updates already available through Windows Update and additional hotfixes based on feedback by our customers and partners,” revealed Brandon LeBlanc, Windows Communications Manager on the Windows Client Communications Team.

Windows 7 SP1 Beta and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 Beta are currently up for grabs and testing. Microsoft is of course looking to gather feedback on the two releases, but considering that the final release is more than half a year away, the company has plenty of time.

“If you are an IT Professional interested in testing Windows 7 SP1, you can download the public beta via the Springboard Series on TechNet where you will find the download as well as other key deployment and support tools,” Leblanc added. SP1 Beta was released for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 customers running the English, French, German, Japanese and Spanish versions of their respective operating systems.

Windows 7 Service Pack 1 (SP1) Beta and Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 (SP1) Beta are available for download here. Follow me on Twitter @MariusOiaga.