According to a report by the US magazine ZDNet, Service Pack 1 for Microsoft’s current operating system Windows 7 is already tested internally. It might thus be available earlier than expected. Unofficial rumors consider September 2010 as possible release date, but a different source talks about early November 2010. Partners will receive Windows 7 SP1 a month before its public availability; at the same time development of Windows 7 Service Pack 2 will start.
The Ukrainian portal IT-Chuiko reports that Microsoft is going to make a Windows 7 Service Pack 1 prerelease available in June 2010, while different rumors talk about the second week of April for a public SP1 Beta. Its build number is likely to be 6.1.7601.
Service Pack 1 will mostly contain patches and bugfixes that have already been published one by one. Furthermore, Windows 7 SP1 is going to introduce some newer technologies, like USB 3.0, or an update to the Windows Bluetooth functionality.
With a faster release cycle, Microsoft is primarily aiming to companies, as they often wait with migrating until the first Service Pack has been published.