Microsoft reportedly moves up Windows 7 SP1 release
date
Analyst argues that Microsoft should delay SP1 to
maintain momentum of fast-selling OS
Even though Microsoft has dropped a plan to wait nearly
two years after Windows 7's launch to issue a first service pack, it won't
deliver the update before the fourth quarter of this year, a site that has
accurately predicted past Windows timetables said today.
Microsoft would be smart to reconsider and delay a
service pack as long as possible, one analyst countered.
TechARP.com , a Malaysian Web site that has nailed
previous service pack schedules for both Windows XP and Vista, said unnamed
sources had originally pegged a 22-month development schedule for Windows 7 SP1
(Service Pack 1). But Microsoft has since changed its mind, reportedly to
address an unknown number of "serious" performance bugs.
"The earliest Microsoft can realistically release
Service Pack 1 for Windows 7 is in the last quarter of 2010," the site
said.
That schedule would, in fact, fit with the timetable
Microsoft used for the two desktop operating systems prior to Windows 7. The
company issued Windows XP SP1 slightly more than 10 months after the release of
XP in October 2001, and delivered the first service pack for Vista about 12
months after Vista's January 2007 retail launch.
"There's no required rule for a service
pack," observed Michael Cherry, an analyst with Kirkland, Wash.-based
Directions on Microsoft. "It's a psychological milestone. They've trained
us to wait for SP1."
Microsoft would benefit by postponing Windows 7 SP1,
Cherry argued. "Windows 7 has pretty good momentum right now, and that
might slow down if they announce a service pack. Then, logically, that's when
people will wait. It could put the dampers on [Windows 7's] good sales right
now."
According to Peter Klein, Microsoft's chief financial
officer, the company has sold 90 million licenses to Windows 7 since July 2009.
Microsoft declined to comment on TechARP's claims, or
on a Windows 7 service pack in general. "Per Microsoft policy, we do not
comment on rumors or speculation," a spokeswoman said today via e-mail.
"We have nothing new to announce at this time."
"If Microsoft wants to break people of the habit
of waiting for SP1, this would be the time to do it," said Cherry, citing
the popularity of Windows 7 and the almost unanimous praise the operating system
has received. "I'm not hearing any significant problems with Windows 7, so
this time, waiting for SP1 you may be doing yourself a disservice."
Microsoft may also be leery of releasing a service pack
because of those positive reviews of Windows 7, and the chance that a flawed
service pack could poison the well. "You have a good success on your
hands," said Cherry, "so the last thing you want is a bad service
pack."
When Microsoft first released Vista in 2007, company
executives argued that a service pack wouldn't be necessary because Windows
Update could deliver fixes as they became available. Microsoft later backed
away from that position. It hasn't made the same argument about Windows 7.
Cherry explained why a service pack was still
necessary. "When a person buys a new computer and they go to Windows
Update, and there's 50, 60, 70 updates waiting, at some point it becomes
burdensome," he said.
Microsoft has issued several stability and reliability
updates for Windows 7 since its late-October launch. The January stability
update, however, caused some Windows 7 systems to randomly freeze or display
the "Blue screen of death" error screen. Microsoft said the reports
were not a "major problem."
By Gregg Keizer | Computerworld
Windows 7 is the next version of Windows client
operating system from Microsoft built on the core fundamentals of Windows
Vista. Windows 7 offers greater reliability and performance with an improvement
in the Security features that were already available in Windows Vista. Windows 7 offers improved navigation, a new taskbar and a streamlined UI so that common
tasks done in Windows are done easier and more quickly. These are some of the
topics that will be demonstrated in the seminar: New Taskbar, Libraries,
Ribbon, Background Processes-Services and Tasks, Multi-Touch.
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