Ah, I see you aren't aware of how things work internally at Microsoft and every other software company. They produce many internal builds which never go public. There is never only one beta and one RC. What they don't do is make them all public. Leaks like this happen all the time. There are many other builds of every system release which are not meant for the general public. As it grows close to the actual RTM they produce several builds which could be declared the RTM. They make them as though they are final by withdrawing the watermarks, etc. They officially declared this one not RTM. As I said before, Microsoft does not pretend a build is not the RTM and quite happily advises us - usually via an important employee's blog first - when they have indeed sent the RTM out to OEMs. They have officially said that this leaked build is not the RTM and has not gone to OEMs. We will know the same day or the next when it has gone to OEMs via official Microsoft blogs and sites like winsupersite.com. I just hope those of you who installed this non-RTM near-final build can smoothly get to the RTM build when it comes out. Nothing worse when Microsoft engineering has to request that people start with a clean install because of an irreversible change. This happens most often with the builds that were never meant to be used by the public. If you don't start from a clean install you will never know if its the reason why you suffer subsequent problems.
Oh and there are three months in a quarter. Twelve divided by four equals three. You forgot March.
I am assuming you are talking about:
http://blogs.technet.com/b/vm/archi...-pack-1-windows-7-windows-server-2008-r2.aspx (
Translated Version)
Microsoft has not released SP1 to OEMs at this time, though we are on track for a Q1 release, as we previously announced. The comments made in this blog entry included some inaccuracies.
This is quite unusual. It does not suggest development has even continued, and does not even eliminate the possibility that 7601.17514.101119-1850 will be the final RTM. Clearly Microsoft Russia received this build, it leaked from Russia, it seemed to have been labeled as going to OEMs, someone there announced it would be released that day, and then they were instructed to retract those statements. This does not, however, mean that this build will not become the final one. Vista SP1 (the actual final build), was in fact leaked on February 3rd, 2008, sent to OEM partners on February 4, 2008, and released to MSDN on February 15, 2008. It did not become available on Windows Update, nor the redistributable through the Download Center, until March 18, 2008, over a month later. This, in my opinion, and as others expressed on the time, was reprehensible, given the condition of Windows Vista at that time.
While Microsoft will confirm the authenticity of a release to manufacturer, they will not comment on leaked builds. They did not do it 3 years ago, and are not likely to do it now. It would be foolish for them to lackadaisically comment that their release schedule has been compromised by TechNet Russia, if it happened. Either way, someone is leaking builds, and many of them are leaked to UseNet all the time.
I am on the fence as to whether or not this will be the final RTM, but I am leaning towards it. We will know soon enough. Would I deploy it to 1000 computers? No. Those who followed backup instructions and warnings would be fine either way. The digital signature expiry on these files is in March, which would make sense. However, anything up until that point will, in fact, remain conjecture. I would be very surprised if they are still developing this Service Pack, even after finalizing the blocker tool in November. If there was a showstopper bug, maybe, but I don't see any evidence of that. During August 2010, they released an
Link Removed to TAP partners. One must wonder how long this development could possibly take.
And of this, your comments?
Windows 7/Server 2008 Service Pack 1 is gold (RTM) | TechConnect Magazine
With proper precautions, it is possible to run this build and perform a successful uninstall and/or full restore. These are instructions that have been reiterated over and over. To claim the SP contains no new features is inaccurate, as we have a fairly and cleanly defined feature list. See you in a month, which is usually how long it takes for them to get it to the Download Center
Also, you are claiming the employee blog completely denied that this exact build would be the RTM? Nowhere does it state that.