Microsoft has begun offering Windows 7 Service Pack 1 via Windows Update today, as promised earlier in the month.
The 32-bit version of SP1 is around 755MB and the 64-bit edition comes in at around 1GB.
Says Microsoft:
Starting today, Windows 7 Service Pack 1 will be available to everyone via the Microsoft Download Center and [will] start rolling out via Windows Update.
If you prefer to have a disc, you can get one sent to you for $6 from Microsoft, including shipping.
The public beta of the SP was released in July 2010, and Microsoft launched the release candidate in October. The SP1 brings no new features, but is instead a collection of security patches and nonsecurity fixes already available through Windows Update.
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Microsoft has finally, officially launched the public beta of Windows 7 SP1, giving users a chance to download the service pack.
In late June, the SP1 was leaked online, and is still circulating on torrent, P2P and warez sites. Additionally, a beta of the Windows Server 2008 R2 was leaked as well.
The SP1, as stated by Microsoft, is mainly a rollup of already-released hotfixes.
Says Microsoft’s Tammi Reller: “I am quite pleased today to announce the public beta availability of service pack 1 both for Windows Server 2008R2 as well as Windows 7. [For Windows 7 ] mostly it is minor updates that are available through Windows update.”
Businesses will be the main beneficiaries of the update, as they will finally be free to upgrade their corporate systems to a fully stable Windows 7, from XP and Vista.
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According to Microsoft spokesperson Gavriella Schuster, the Windows 7 Service Pack 1 should be released next month, as a public beta.
The release of the service pack should move the OS forward onto the systems of more corporate users, as many IT admins will not upgrade a system to a new OS until at least the first SP.
Microsoft explains that SP1 will not be a big deal, however, as it “will not contain any new features that are specific to Windows 7 itself. For Windows 7, SP1 will simply be the combination of updates already available through Windows Update and additional hotfixes based on feedback by our customers and partners. In other words, customers can feel confident about deploying Windows 7 now!”
Making good on that claim, Schuster notes: “Several organizations of all sizes are already in the process of deploying Windows 7 and not waiting for SP1. In fact, we’ve already sold more than 100 million licenses of Windows 7.”
The release coincides with the Microsoft ending support for Windows XP SP2, with the company advising current XP SP2 users to upgrade to SP3 or move to Windows 7.
An official release of SP1, out of beta, is expected in late September.
