WINDOWS 7 7138.0.090523-xxxx-winmain_win7xxx_sp1_x

Not only that. SP2 is under development and has been leaked ...

I'm not holding my breath at this early stage

weh said:

As I understand it, Win.7 was "feature-frozen" with the 7100 RC version. Given that, it makes perfect sense that there would be an SP1 branch which would include potential feature enhancements as well as new features that are proposed even before RTM is accomplished. Where else would they put these things? The whole point of RC to RTM development is squashing bugs and tweaking performance -- not feature enhancement.

I would agree with the statements that RC to RTM is all about squashing bugs. However, while MS is probably looking at some enhancements, they are not focused on an SP, yet. Look at the past SPs, how many of those actually brought new enhancements to Windows. Almost none. While XP SP2 was probably one of the biggest SPs in regards to changes to the OS, there was a specific reason for it. Otherwise, SPs are basically roll-ups of all the previous updates and some minor code tweaking.

New features are for new OSes. Remember, MS is on record stating that they want to return to a shorter development cycle. Expect new versions on a 3 year cycle, not 5-6 year like XP. That was out of the ordinary and unplanned.

PhreePhly

jimbo45 said:

Hi all
If you like conspiracy theories then surely it's in MS's interest to ALWAYS release buggy and crippled software even if it were technically feasable to release the product bug free.

If a product was 100% bug or cripple free what would be the incentive of people to install a new OS or "Upgrade" to obtain features (such as Remote Desktop) that should be built into the base product in any case.

Cheers
jimbo

I disagree. Software and technology will always evolve. There will be new things that they have figured out how to do and new and better ways of doing it. That's the reason for upgrading. If I only cared about stability & if it did what I needed done, Win 2K worked great for me. Indeed if it hadn't been for wanting to do video editing, and that computer not being powerful enough to do it, I would probably still be using it.

Gary