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Hall
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join:2000-04-28
Germantown, OH

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Re: [WIN7] No Service Pack 2

said by plencnerb:

I guess it really comes down to the question "What is in a Service Pack?"

I see that question having at least two answers

1) New features that were not present in the given OS at time of release

How many OS service packs include new "features" ? That's not typical, I don't believe. XP SP2 did, but they were much-needed security enhancements, as I recall.

On the other hand, how one defines "feature" could be debatable. For instance, with Autodesk and their 3D-modeling software, a service pack would never impact the "UI", meaning it wouldn't be a change/update that the user sees. Those only occurred with full-blown releases.

trparky
Premium Member
join:2000-05-24
Cleveland, OH
·AT&T U-Verse

trparky

Premium Member

Now, if they're planning on using "update rollups" similar to how they release them for Internet Explorer, then maybe they might be onto something there.

I installed Windows 7 64-bit just the other day because I had to build a new machine and there were a ton of updates, not just for Windows but there was Microsoft .NET Framework updates as well and those often numbered in the 50 to 100 MB zone. Easily 2 GBs of downloads there!

And don't get me started on the Office 2010 updates. I had to install several updates for Office before it even offered Service Pack 1 to be downloaded and then on top of that even more updates after Office 2010 SP1 was installed.

plencnerb
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join:2000-09-25
53403-1242

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I agree Hall See Profile. Most OS SP's don't include new features. As you said, XP did, but I think that is the only exception. My reason for that as a potential "answer" to my "What is a Service Pack" question was just that: A potential answer. Microsoft could include new features of the OS in a SP, but they have not done so (except as noted in XP).

Which is why they are good as a "one stop install of security updates" which in my mind boils down to installing one big patch instead of 100's of little ones.

--Brian
Glen T
join:2003-11-03
BC

Glen T

Member

Maybe they are planning on selling SP2. Does anyone remember when they did that before? It was called Win98 SE...
Glen T

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I'm trying to recall if Win95 with USB support was a service pack or an upgrade that was purchased...

Hall
MVM
join:2000-04-28
Germantown, OH

Hall

MVM

Only Win95 OEM versions supported USB. I could have sworn there was a work-around or hack that enabled it on non-OEM versions though.

plencnerb
Premium Member
join:2000-09-25
53403-1242

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Click for full size
I rebuilt my system back on Oct 17th. I have SP1 built-into my install media for Windows. I also have SP1 for Office 2010 built-in as well.

However, I still had to install 141 updates! The picture may be hard to see everything installed, but that is all the updates I had on my system for Office 2010 after SP1 and Windows 7 after SP1.

The breakdown for me for each group is below

• CAPICOM: 1
• McAfee VirusScan Enterprise: 1 (Patch 2 for VSE 8.8)
• .NET 4 Client: 8
• Office 2010: 39
• Silverlight: 1
• Windows: 91

This is why a "update rollup" would be nice.

--Brian

BillRoland
Premium Member
join:2001-01-21
Ocala, FL

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said by Hall:

How many OS service packs include new "features" ? That's not typical, I don't believe. XP SP2 did, but they were much-needed security enhancements, as I recall.

Right off the top of my head, Vista SP1 added SSTP VPN capability to the OS. Sure, I agree that XP SP2 was a special case (in fact some argue it could have been billed a new OS, and they may be right), but other SP's have included new functionality in the past as well.