News - Windows 7 SP1 beta released to the general public

[HEXUS]

Milestone release collects all previous security updates but is light on new features.

Read more.

[OilSheikh]

Last time I installed SP was on Vista and had to reinstall! Same again with SP2 and XP.

It's best to slipstream and do a clean install.

[watercooled]

So, they still haven't fixed the stupid standby bugs then...

[kalniel]

AVX instruction support is due in SP1 as well, so this doesn't seem like a fully featured beta.

[TheAnimus]

wait there are AVX chips out already?!

[watercooled]

No I think it's going to be implemented in Sandy Bridge and Bulldozer.

[kalniel]

Correct. But there won't be another service pack before Sandy Bridge is out.

[baius]

( Aha! So Windows 7 wasn't perfect after all. Just pretty close.)

Edit: Oh, and can I just ask: Does anyone else think it's unlikely Microsoft will call their next OS:

• Windows Live 8?

[Singh400]

It's best to slipstream and do a clean install.

You can't slipstream. Not a proper one anyway, like XP.

Aha! So Windows 7 wasn't perfect after all. Just pretty close.

You do realise that a service pack is just one giant roll up of all previous updates released right?

[baius]

You do realise that a service pack is just one giant roll up of all previous updates released right?

I admit to not knowing too much about Service Packs. However, it seems likely they add a few bits not in earlier updates or they probably wouldn't spend so long testing. (I may be wrong.)

[Funkstar]

I admit to not knowing too much about Service Packs. However, it seems likely they add a few bits not in earlier updates or they probably wouldn't spend so long testing. (I may be wrong.)

There is a bit more to consider when testing a service pack vs individual hot fixes. For instance, a Service Pack can be rolled into an install image, so that needs to be tested. Then there is installing W7 with SP1 on a completely clean system instead of plain Windows 7.

Then there are the corporate users that will not touch an OS until the first SP is out. They are usually big MS partners and will have been testing this on their sample systems.

[baius]

There is a bit more to consider when testing a service pack vs individual hot fixes. For instance, a Service Pack can be rolled into an install image, so that needs to be tested. Then there is installing W7 with SP1 on a completely clean system instead of plain Windows 7.

Then there are the corporate users that will not touch an OS until the first SP is out. They are usually big MS partners and will have been testing this on their sample systems.

Your first paragraph says (more elaborately) what I said, or perhaps what I meant to say...

Your second paragraph is interesting - I didn't know that big comp's wait for "SP1", though it makes perfect sense.

[Funkstar]

MS have argued that this isn't required these days, but big corps have been waiting for SP1 or even SP2 since NT 3.51 days as that is when they consider the OS to be most stable. XP reinforced this mentality due to the large changes in the security model in SP2.