Of course I did the google thing myself, and got the same results. I was wonderin' if some of the folks in here, many of whom seem to be quite 'in the know', might have some insights... Thanks.
Yes... Finally some fresh info (courtesy canouna)... Win7 SP2 is going to reach Beta very soon... Early June most probably. So its quite possible that along with(not on the same day itself!) Windows 8 Release Preview, we'll get a Beta of Win7 SP2 in the next month.
So when something such as a service pack goes into beta from Microsoft, how long does it typically take to get released as a final version?
Usually between 4-6 months, maybe longer if they have any bugfixes to fix up. Just hope it has USB 3.0 included, don't expect any new features in SP2 though. They will most likely backport some (but not all) features from Win8 in seperate msu packages, like they did for Vista SP2.
I don't think we will get SP2 Beta until late this year maybe Nov-Dec, cause MS wants everyone's attention focused on Win8. Also another reason why SP2 will be late, is because MS has everyone working on fixing bugs and whatnot for the final RTM build, maybe after the development of Win8 has finished, MS will turn it's attention to making SP2, for those of us that are not upgrading. (Hopefully)
Well lets hope it's sooner rather than late 2012 that we get SP2, and i agree that win8 is a gamble for MS, one in my view will probably fail big time.
i been wondering about a sp2 aswell for win7. ( one day for sure it will be out till then SP1 disc is all u can ask for ) win8 is just a step in the wrong direction they needed to force more on win7 but no M$ wants a new OS every few years.
why would ms fix something for free ? theyre here to compete with apple in os release frequency. NEW NEW NEW BUY BUY BUY!
Really for enterprise/business customers, does it matter so much that windows 8 may or may not be a success. Businesses need a OS licence and if not windows 8, then they will take windows 7. For MS, it is perhaps not a question of win 8 or nothing. A new PC should need a new OS and in >90% of cases, it is a Microsoft OS.
TBH - if all goes well we can expect Windows 7 SP2 around Feb - May 2013 - I am afraid why would there be a Beta for Service Pack (i suppose it is not required)?.