Microsoft will likely skip a second Windows 7 service pack

In a break with traditional release schedules, Microsoft will probably not issue a second Windows 7 Service Pack, according to The Register. The Service Pack bundles the company's monthly updates and also usually provides additional security and performance updates. It's meant to help IT managers (and many home consumers as well) install fixes in one fell swoop, without having to keep tabs manually on monthly updates.

Sources "close to Microsoft's sustained engineering team," which builds and releases service packs, told The Register Microsoft has not yet begun preparing a second Service Pack. With Windows 8 about to hit the general public this week, the timeline for a practical Windows 7 Service Pack release is closing. The likelihood of a second update bundle has become very small.