Is Windows 7 SP1 already being worked on?

If you were developing one of the most talked about pieces of software in the past decade and testing of your release candidate was going pretty well, what would you do next? Why, you'd start working on the first service pack for your as-yet-unfinished operating system!
No, that doesn't make a lot of sense. You be the judge. According to information from Winfuture.de and Wzor.net - the Russian site that always seems to have early information about leaked Windows 7 builds - Microsoft has already begun working on SP1.
Critique the screenshot yourself - the system properties screen is open and clearly shows "Service Pack 1." The watermark text, curiously, is partially obscured and also includes the text "Temporary Censorship." The build number is 7138, one up from the most recent leak. It certainly looks like the image has been monkeyed with. Then again, we did just have that leaked box art which many people thought looked doctored as well - and that turned out to be legit.
Publicity wise, it seems like a Vista-esque bad move to have an SP1 build in the works before Windows 7 hits RTM. It gives the impression that the release isn't as good as it should have been. Of course, it's also inevitable that service packs will appear at some point in the future, so Microsoft could very well be laying the initial groundwork now in a separate development branch.
thanks, Sandip!
No, that doesn't make a lot of sense. You be the judge. According to information from Winfuture.de and Wzor.net - the Russian site that always seems to have early information about leaked Windows 7 builds - Microsoft has already begun working on SP1.
Critique the screenshot yourself - the system properties screen is open and clearly shows "Service Pack 1." The watermark text, curiously, is partially obscured and also includes the text "Temporary Censorship." The build number is 7138, one up from the most recent leak. It certainly looks like the image has been monkeyed with. Then again, we did just have that leaked box art which many people thought looked doctored as well - and that turned out to be legit.
Publicity wise, it seems like a Vista-esque bad move to have an SP1 build in the works before Windows 7 hits RTM. It gives the impression that the release isn't as good as it should have been. Of course, it's also inevitable that service packs will appear at some point in the future, so Microsoft could very well be laying the initial groundwork now in a separate development branch.
thanks, Sandip!












Comments
9
Subscribe to commentsbrcMay 29th 2009 8:39AM
the image on the site is not the same anymore, the watermark is no longer behind the version section... curiouser and curiouser...
brcMay 29th 2009 8:42AM
or not... i guess i am all alone in here :-) luckily
Funke, Tobias Dr.May 29th 2009 10:20AM
The problem with Vista is that it sucked from the beginning. Windows 7 was already way ahead even at Beta #2, so I doubt anyone will be complaining like they were about Vista when they get the RTM.
mrfoof82May 29th 2009 10:50AM
It's not unlikely.
IT departments have instituted the "wait until SP1" rule long ago, and have largely stuck with it. Microsoft recently has started an initiative to push SP1 out the door after RTM as fast as possible.
For instance, with SQL Server 2008, the time between RTM and Service Pack 1 was only 242 days. The reason is they wanted shops that were still on 2000 to feel safe if they wanted to move to 2008. This will be the case with Windows 7, where shops that avoided Vista (a LOT of shops) will likely be coming straight from Windows XP.
mrsebMay 29th 2009 10:52AM
Well, if you assume there's been a code freeze now, so that they can actually get it published, it would make sense to work on the first SP.
You have to stop developing at some stage, and I'm sure an operating system's development cycle could go on forever -- 'just one more feature'... 'OK, and let's fix that while we're at it...', 'oh, and you know, that bit that doesn't quite work right...'
It's a commodity, it has to hit the market. No good holding onto it until it's totally perfect, as it never will be :)
iofthestormMay 29th 2009 4:03PM
Seriously, it's like these blogs don't understand software development at all or something. Oh wait...
Do people not understand what Release Candidate means? If there aren't any critical bugs left, the Release Candidate should become the final release. Thus, they've probably started a new development branch as soon as they cut the release candidate, with fixes and additions that will go into SP1. Any reasonable software development project will work like this.
BrianMMay 29th 2009 10:55AM
Every bug that does not get approved to be fixed before RTM, goes into the SP1 pile. Seriously what kind of idiotic post is this. it is called a development lifecycle and honestly some things that did not get into Windows 7 are being sloted for Windows 8 already too. Given the undertaking of building an entire OS there are things that are being planned for Windows 9 right now as well.
RigfhtPaddockMay 31st 2009 9:37PM
@iofthestorm - this blog writer doesn't understand development, period.
22 April 2009 - "Toyota Motor Sales USA will soon be offering a bare-bones version of the upcoming next-generation Prius hybrid"
LM is presumably of the opinion that Toyota is not or should not be working on the fully featured next-get Prius, and especially not on the next nextgen Prius.
Time to worry is when MS is NOT working on SP1 & SP2.
crappishJun 2nd 2009 5:03PM
Erm? How is this questionable in any ways? The RC (Release Candidate) is already out from the door which means it's in feature freeze, thus SP1 is definitely in the works.