[-X-]

Quote

Waiting for a second Windows 7 Service Pack? Keep waiting – it doesn't sound like Microsoft will be releasing one. 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.

http://www.theregist..._windows_7_sp2/

This post has been edited by -X-: 24 October 2012 - 03:12 PM

[vipejc]

-X-, on 24 October 2012 - 02:41 AM, said:

Quote

Waiting for a second Windows 7 Service Pack? Keep waiting – it doesn't sound like Microsoft will be releasing one. 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 February 2013.

http://www.theregist..._windows_7_sp2/

It's all part of Microsoft's forced-to-upgrade-to-Windows-8 plan.

[tomasz86]

It's a good time for someone interested (and capable) to start working on an unofficial SP2 then

[uid0]

Feb 2013 is (tabloid scaremongering) for sp0, win7 has mainstream support until Jan 2015 and extended until 2020:
http://windows.micro...ducts/lifecycle

[UltimateSilence]

Judging by this. perhaps Internet Explorer 10 will be the last version to support it?

This post has been edited by UltimateSilence: 24 October 2012 - 03:08 PM

[MagicAndre1981]

this doesn't surprise me:

http://www.msfn.org/...ost__p__1008680

this is really bad for normal users, because this bloats up the WinSxS folder and slows down Windows.

This post has been edited by MagicAndre1981: 25 October 2012 - 05:48 AM

[TheWalrus]

How does having more files in folders thare are not in use slow down the system?

Not that I agree with the whole thing (I really hate downloading 1GB of crap everytime I install a machine - OR having to constantly update the downloaded hotfixes I integrate), but I am not quite sure about the performance claim of yours.

[MagicAndre1981]

more files in WinSxS folder causes delays in starting the audio service, it takes MUCH longer to install new updates and if you're a SSD user you loose too much space.

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

Still nothing official, but the rumor is certainly kicking up a storm. I'm keeping my powder dry until something official, a quote from an identifiable softie is confirmed.

Just in the past year we have seen the Metro name fiasco ( somehow the lawyers managed to not do their job for 3 years ), their complete deafness and arrogance allowing the killing of the Start Menu and Aero Glass on Windows 8 and the accidental removal of the browser ballot on EU versions of Windows which might lead to billions in fines. ( What do you got to do to get fired by the board of directors there anyway? )

But if this rumor of discontinuing service packs ( particularly rollups ) really comes true there is gonna be a sh*tstorm. It would rank up there with one of the dumbest ideas I ever heard. The comments are not kind so far ...

Report: No Service Pack 2 for Windows 7 ( Tom's Hardware 2012-10-24 )

Microsoft won't release Service Pack 2 for Windows 7 ( TechSpot 2012-10-24 )

Microsoft: No plans for Windows 7 Service Pack 2 ( NeoWin 2012-10-24 )

[jaclaz]

Well, a mix of crystall ball and mathematics seemingly did the trick of seeing in the future :
http://www.msfn.org/...-pack-2-for-w7/
http://www.msfn.org/...ost__p__1008975
the bad news being that if the trend changes, it is likely that Windows 8 will actually last enough to get a Service Pack 1

jaclaz

[xpclient]

MagicAndre1981, on 25 October 2012 - 05:48 AM, said:

this doesn't surprise me:

http://www.msfn.org/...ost__p__1008680

this is really bad for normal users, because this bloats up the WinSxS folder and slows down Windows.

Bingo. WinSxS gets too bloated over time even if you exclude the hard links. This is why XPwasmyIdea. I cannot tolerate disk eating monster operating systems and Windows 7 needs SP2 some day just as much as Vista needs SP3. People's 32 GB Windows 8 tablets are also going to fill up fast with WinSxS and extremely bloated 250 MB Solitaire, Mahjong games on the Windows Store when installed..

This post has been edited by xpclient: 26 October 2012 - 12:14 AM

[MagicAndre1981]

xpclient, on 26 October 2012 - 12:11 AM, said:

Bingo. WinSxS gets too bloated over time even if you exclude the hard links. This is why XPwasmyIdea. I cannot tolerate disk eating monster operating systems and Windows 7 needs SP2 some day just as much as Vista needs SP3. People's 32 GB Windows 8 tablets are also going to fill up fast with WinSxS and extremely bloated 250 MB Solitaire, Mahjong games on the Windows Store when installed..

it depends on the way you install the updates. My Installer is always fast. But the users who install with WindowsUpdate are in trouble. I've installed a fresh Win7 with Sp1 included and I had to install nearly 100 updates. This took some time. Imagine how long it takes in 2018 when you have to install 500 Updates

And for Win8, here you can now remove all replaced updates:

http://www.msfn.org/...ost__p__1015509

So the WinSxS folder NO longer grows that much.

[vipejc]

Don't be surprised to see the Windows lifecycle be cut down to a year starting with Windows 7 and on.

[cluberti]

Yeah.... that's not gonna happen. The sky isn't falling - not having a service pack 2 (if it ends up being true - MS has 3 years before mainstream support ends for Windows 7 with which to do this) isn't great for some users, but the sky is not falling.

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

cluberti, on 26 October 2012 - 01:46 AM, said:

Yeah.... that's not gonna happen. The sky isn't falling - not having a service pack 2 (if it ends up being true - MS has 3 years before mainstream support ends for Windows 7 with which to do this) isn't great for some users, but the sky is not falling.

What would the 'Sky Is Falling' look like in your opinion?

Dissected and taken individually any thing can be tossed off as "The sky isn't falling". It is the sum total of events that matter, not the magnitude of any individual event. Slow-cooking frogs never know what hit them until it is too late.

About service packs, if Microsoft doesn't commit to a new practice of allowing direct downloads of refreshed media, to all parties ( not just Softies and Technetters ), well I see no way to spin this as a good thing. It will mean every install of Windows 7 until 2020 ( or whatever year ) will be an install of files dating from March 2010 ( SP1 ) or in many cases Summer 2009 ( RTM ). And those computers will stay with those files until they phone home and tie up your router for quite a long time.

A cynical person might think Microsoft has embedded advertising in the Windows Update page and they are drumming up clicks by eliminating single-file downloads of an entire service pack / rollup.

More logical people know that this ( if it is true ) would be the most nakedly brazen assertion of planned obsolescence they have yet perpetrated.

[xpclient]

MagicAndre1981, on 26 October 2012 - 12:53 AM, said:

xpclient, on 26 October 2012 - 12:11 AM, said:

Bingo. WinSxS gets too bloated over time even if you exclude the hard links. This is why XPwasmyIdea. I cannot tolerate disk eating monster operating systems and Windows 7 needs SP2 some day just as much as Vista needs SP3. People's 32 GB Windows 8 tablets are also going to fill up fast with WinSxS and extremely bloated 250 MB Solitaire, Mahjong games on the Windows Store when installed..

it depends on the way you install the updates. My Installer is always fast. But the users who install with WindowsUpdate are in trouble. I've installed a fresh Win7 with Sp1 included and I had to install nearly 100 updates. This took some time. Imagine how long it takes in 2018 when you have to install 500 Updates

And for Win8, here you can now remove all replaced updates:

http://www.msfn.org/...ost__p__1015509

So the WinSxS folder NO longer grows that much.

I understand Andre but convenience is what I prefer. Your update installer is excellent but not all encompassing of all released updates. I wish Windows 7 had that superseded updates cleanup ability. Windows 8 is a deal-breaking OS in many aspects. I will move to it only out of compulsion.

[MagicAndre1981]

xpclient, on 26 October 2012 - 06:30 AM, said:

Your update installer is excellent but not all encompassing of all released updates.

this is by design. We only include updates which don't require WGA check.

[cozinbob2]

I hope they will reconsider a service pack2 for Win-7. A few days ago I had over 100 updates on a new Win-7/SP-1 install.

[vinifera]

problem is with their policy
SP should be just hotfix container, but they enforced on themselves to treat it as new product thus extend support

[cluberti]

Microsoft has never extended a product's supportability lifecycle due to a service pack.

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