14 DAY TRIAL // The second upgrade for Windows 7 has started to take shape over in Redmond, with Microsoft nominating the updates that will be included in the second service pack for the operating system.
According to a source close to the software giant, there are now a few hundred refreshes that the company intends to include into Windows 7 Service Pack 2 (SP2).
Microsoft has yet to offer official confirmation that it gave the green light for Windows 7 SP2 planning, let alone discuss what the upgrade will offer to users.
Fact is that at the time of this article the Redmond company had not confirmed officially the release to manufacturing of Windows 7 SP1, or made public a general availability deadline for the upgrade.
It appears that the total volume of updates, which will be shipped as a part of Windows 7 SP2, weighs in approximately 600 MB. As is the case with SP1, SP2 will upgrade not only the Windows 7 client, but also Windows Server 2008 R2.
Microsoft is said to include no less than 132 updates for x86 Windows 7 SP2, as much as 171 updates for x64 Windows 7 SP2 and 114 updates for ia64 Windows Server 2008 R2 SP2 systems.
Wzor even published the entire list of updates, and I tried getting some additional information on a number of them selected at random, but the software giant is offering no details for the time being.
Per the current maintenance model of Windows, some of the updates planned for SP2 will be offered in advance through Windows Update to Windows 7 SP1 customers ahead of the second upgrade.
However, some refreshes, especially hotfixes won’t be delivered to all Windows 7 SP1 users, but only to customers who are impacted by a specific problem. Fact is that by installing a fix without experiencing any issues will more probably cause some, so Microsoft’s advice was always to stay away from hotfixes unless they’re absolutely required.
Reports indicate that work on Windows 7 SP2 has started in the fall of 2010, ahead of the finalization of SP1. But apparently, Microsoft is not in any rush to deliver the upgrade, with Windows 7 SP2 being planned for delivery in mid-2012.