I'm curious of whats underneath the skin and what they have replaced to make it more efficient... Cause I could care less with what WAT updates they have done with it as they are easy to bypass with the right stuff...
November... still a lot of updates between now and then! Service packs aren't as simple as just a bunch of updates. System files between RTM code and any service pack code, and betweeen service packs, are not interchangeable. If it were just a bunch of updates, they could simply combine all the updates files from the RTM code and make them in one big update file. That is simply not the case. For Windows, a service pack is a new revision of Windows, with enough operational benefit to sway those that avoided the initial upgrade to do so.
Maybe - but I prefer to wait for them to release the integrated iso rather than apply a service pack. My opinion only - but I reckon you end up with a better system via a clean service pack install than with a patched one.
SP1 is mot much more than just the updates, maybe usb3 compatibility or so. The service pack also changes buildnumber and strings and maybe (but not shure) changes buildnumbers of other files so they have all the same SP1 buildnumber. But changing buildnumbers adds no additional functionallity.
Microsoft doesn't want you to wait to install it, you may end up being happy with the OS you are on! Its true SP1 isn't a whole new operating system, and is an amalgamation of all the hotixes, but thats a major point in itself. There are literally hundreds of hotfixes besides those that are official downloads, so to say the SP1 is just a compilation of all the released hotfixes is a false statement - if that were the case, it wouldn't need a beta testing stage! I had heard Microsoft started on SP1 before Windows 7 even made RTM (unless you're claiming the reports on this website were wrong). Installing all the hotfixes, official and non-offical, does not equal a service pack equivalent without the string changes! Integrating hotfixes before a Windows installation is a bit of a pointless exercise, especially if only installing on one or two computers. The time and effort to integrate the updates over doing it once installed is not worth it, and you literally get no benefit whatsoever. Integrating a service pack also leads to the same result, with a potential side effect. Normally when you install a service pack, to finalise it you need to run compcln.exe from the command prompt. It cleans up a few things and you are then unable to uninstall the service pack. If streamlined, I'm not sure whether it will work properly or not, and you leave that crap on there. A proper intergrated Microsoft ISO is a better option - NOT a user integrated one, a true original Microsoft one. The true original Microsoft SP1 and so on ISO's also have an updated setup system, something you do not get with integration. You can partially update the setup system, but not to the same level. People with genuine Windows can purchase a new official SP disk from Microsoft, paying only postage, if you know where to find it on the Microsoft site (they don't make it easy).
There is no compcln.exe file in the SP1 package, if the user wishes to slipstream a service pack, they have to use dism to remove the backup files that were left behind during installation of SP1.