The timing is connected to the release of their upcoming potential disaster called Windows 8.
There will be SP2 for 7.
MS will decide when the best time is - they don't want to overshadow their upcoming release - they do want to push something out so win7 users get the impression they have not been abandoned ( not just yet, anyway).
I don't expect any major improvements in SP2 - more a roll up of the updates so far - perhaps one or two things to encourage development of apps. for win 8.
They want you to buy the new thing - why would they put major improvements into the o/s you already have?
Hi there
I'm sure there will be an SP2 for Win7 --just like there was an SP3 for XP which nobody expected although probably not until next year after the official release of W8.
Some major corporations are just beginning to roll out Win 7 across their organisations now that the definite end of XP support has been stated by Ms - and certainly won't even THINK of another upgrade for at least 2 - 3 more years.
Ms isn't going to give up on the huge number of corporate licenses it gets from corporate windows users and these people will want decent security updates plus regular fixes too for at least the foreseeable future.
Typical help desks would be totally OVERWHELMED if any of these large organisations often with 1000's of PC's in their networks even THOUGHT about implementing W8 !!.
Individuals have time usually to install - try out - uninstall again , then have another go a few weeks / days later later etc.
It doesn't work like that in large organisations --even something that appears to an individual to be quite trivial or a tiny change can be a major headache when rolled out across 1000's of PC's.
Three interesting "Backports" from W8 might also make it into an SP2 :
1)- Windows defender - the enhanced security system for W8 could be rolled back into W7 - this would save Ms from having to maintain MSE as well -- the whole lot could be maintained in a single bunch.
2) File History -- this automatically logs changes to users data files and makes recovery simple. This could also be of interest to corporate I.T people who often have to spend time recovering users lost or corrupted files from backups on their servers -- the user can manage a lot more of their own data management with this. (This feature isn't intended to replace standard and decent backup procedures though).
3) Virtual ISO mounting -- this could save a lot of company PC's from being fitted with optical devices -- cheaper laptops.
Now without understanding the Windows Kernel I'm not sure how difficult would be to implement these in W7 but I'm sure they would be welcomed.
Cheers
jimbo
