14 DAY TRIAL // Following the release of Windows Vista, Microsoft started to downplay the relevancy of major upgrades to the Windows operating system delivered via Service Packs. The Redmond-based company’s new perspective is that the best improvements would be delivered via Windows Update and Automatic Updates long before they are available in future service packs. This will be the case for Windows 7 SP1, which Microsoft indicates will be nothing more than a standard service pack release.
While he refused to offer any specific details on the forthcoming Windows 7 SP1, Windows product manager Chris Flores noted that Microsoft has very little issues it needs to address with the first major update for the latest iteration of the Windows client. "The overall quality of Windows 7 is solid, devices are being found, people are happy. Our product support call volumes are incredibly low. We've been extraordinarily happy with the stability of Windows 7 and all of the health metrics. We've been just blown away with the reception. The product is very solid," Flores stated (via TechRadar).
This wasn’t the case with Windows Vista. Customers that were among the first adopters of Windows 7’s predecessor were indeed holding their breath for Service Pack 1. And it was starting with SP1 that Vista actually became usable. This is by no means the case for Windows 7. Vista’s successor has been ready for prime time long ahead of the General Availability deadline on October 22, 2009, and has run into no major speed bumps since. Flores underlines that just as Vista SP1, customers should not expect Windows 7 SP1 to be a repeat of Windows XP SP2.
"Take, for instance, Windows Vista SP1; if you were somebody that was on automatic update, we'd been trickling out updates to you all along and so for most people that have had automatic updates turned on SP1 was almost a non-event for them. We can continually improve Windows over time just with the update technology we currently have," Flores added.