Microsoft Has No Plans For a Second Windows 7 Service Pack

HP Fills In Pricing and Availability Details for its Windows 8 Lineup

Microsoft Has No Plans For a Second Windows 7 Service Pack

Sources close to Microsoft's sustained engineering team, which builds and releases service packs, have told The Register there are no plans for a second Windows 7 SP – breaking precedent on the normal cycle of updating Windows.

Instead, Microsoft will keep updating Windows 7 using patches released each month until support for Windows 7 comes to an end. That date is currently slated for 24 months after the most current SP – that’s SP1, which was released in February 2011 – and would put end of life at January 2020.

The decision not to release a second service pack for Windows 7 comes just at the time when Microsoft would typically be preparing to release the pack.

People have been asking about SP2 since August. SP2 for Windows XP rolled out nearly three years after the operating system’s release while the Windows Vista SP2 came just over two years later. With the Windows 7 OS having been released in October 2009, we are now at the trailing edge of the standard release window for SP2.

This means every update to Windows 7 since SP1 in February 2011 will need to be applied individually. Asked to comment, Microsoft said it didn’t have anything to say about Windows 7 SP2.

Service packs are a pain for Microsoft, because they divert engineers’ time and budget from building new versions of Windows. In this case, the anticipation for Windows 7’s SP2 comes around the same time as the launch of Windows 8, out later this week. Also, by ending SPs, Microsoft could be pushing customers towards the completely new Windows 8.

SPs are released to bundle up things like monthly updates and can include security and performance updates and support for new hardware. They span monthly updates released through Patch Tuesday; will wrap in fixes to apps like Office; and will impact software affecting the desktop, network and applications like the browser. A single SP means you can wrap up, test and rollout, and update – all in a single software release. Without a SP you must manually keep up to date on monthly releases.

As Microsoft’s own Service Pack Center, here, advises: “Make sure you install the latest service pack to help keep Windows up to date.”

Certainly, the Windows 7 SP1 didn’t go smoothly for Microsoft – in spite of the theory that SPs allows Redmond to wrap up months of releases into a single, digestible bundle.

Source: The Register

HP Fills In Pricing and Availability Details for its Windows 8 Lineup

HP has just announced pricing and availability for its sprawling Windows 8 lineup of hybrid PCs, notebooks, all-in-ones, desktops and business PCs. The company seems to be challenging in every niche with a huge (and confusing) array of products running the newfangled OS.

The 11.6-inch Envy x2 hybrid PC will come on the scene on November 14th starting from $850:

• 11.6" 1366x768 BrightView LED-backlit IPS Display
• dual-core 1.8GHz Intel Atom Z2760 processor
• integrated Imagination SGX545 GPU
• 2GB 533MHz LPDDR2 SDRAM
• up to 64GB eMMC SSD
• 1080p front and 8Mp rear camera
• 802.11 a/b/g/n multi-band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, NFC
• Beats Audio with dual speakers

Windows 8 mobile lineup from HP also includes:

• the HP SpectreXT TouchSmart ultrabook (expected to be available in the United States in December, starting at $1,399.99)
• the HP ENVY TouchSmart Ultrabook 4 (available for preorders in the United States, starting at $799.99)
• the HP Pavilion Sleekbook 14 and Pavilion Sleekbook 15 (available in the United States, starting at $499.99 and $579.99, respectively)
• the HP ENVY M4 notebook (available in the United States at Best Buy, starting at $899.99)
• the HP Pavilion DM1 (available in the United States, starting at $499.99)

HP desktops are presented by:

• the HP ENVY 23 and ENVY 20 AIO PC (available in the United States, starting at $999 and $799, respectively)
• the HP SpectreONE AIO PC (expected to be available in the United States in November, starting at $1,299)
• the HP Pavilion 20 AIO PC (available in the United States, starting at $449)
• the HP ENVY Phoenix h9 desktop PC (available in the United States, starting at $899)

Finally, a pair of models is revealed in the business segment:

• the HP ElitePad 900 tablet (expected to be available in the United States in January 2013)
• the HP EliteBook Folio 9470m ultrabook (expected to be available in the United States on Oct. 26, starting at $1,049)

Source: Engadget

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