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Windows 7 SP1 RTM Available No Later than March 2011

Nov 3, 2010 13:41 GMT  ·  By
Windows 7
   Windows 7

Microsoft will wrap up and offer the first major upgrade to Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 no later than March 2011.

The Redmond company has confirmed officially that Windows 7 Service Pack 1 RTM and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 will reach General Availability (GA) in the first quarter of the coming year.

Essentially, the software giant has narrowed down a bit the availability deadline for Windows 7 SP1.

Previously Microsoft had indicated that it was planning to release Windows 7 SP1 sometime in the first half of 2011.

Rich Reynolds, general manager of Windows Commercial Product Marketing at Microsoft confirmed that GA will happen in Q1 2011.

“Last week, we announced the Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 (SP1) Release Candidate availability, with the final version available in first quarter of calendar year 2011,” Reynolds stated. (emphasis added)

In all fairness various sources had already pointed out that Windows 7 SP1 would be offered to customers in Q1 2011. Microsoft is only confirming this deadline.

Still, a specific availability deadline has yet to be announced. Also, Microsoft continues to share no plans related to when it plans to release Windows 7 SP1 to manufacturing.

Obviously, Windows 7 SP1 will hit RTM before the GA, which means that some customers, including MSDN and TechNet subscribers will be able to grab the bits earlier than others.

“SP1 will include new virtualization features to Windows Server 2008 R2 (RemoteFX, Dynamic Memory) to provide a richer virtual desktop experience, while helping keeping TCO under control.

“And while Windows 7 customers will benefit from these enhancements, the Windows 7 SP1 will simply be a roll up of security updates.

“As we’ve said before, Windows 7 is ready now, so customers should not wait for SP1 to deploy,” Reynolds advised.

Windows 7 Service Pack 1 (SP1) Release Candidate (RC) Build 7601.17105.100929-1730 and Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 (SP1) Release Candidate (RC) Build 7601.17105.100929-1730 are available for download here.