Future Server Service Packs

As an MVP we have MVP leads that share information and are our main connection to the MVP program.   Recently my MVP lead sent out a great Q&A that I wanted to share.  I checked with her to make sure this is not NDA information and it was not. (thanks Michelle!)

There are still a lot of organizations that still believe that they should wait for a service pack before deploying a new Server OS.   If you were around 10 years ago or more you might remember that Windows NT had seven service packs (1-6a).    Windows 2000 had four service packs   With that many service packs you can see why some old timers still think waiting for service packs is the way to go.

The days of four, six ,or more service packs are probably gone forever.   I can't speak for the future of the Microsoft development life-cycle; but with major releases being released every four years and R2 releases every two years there is not much room for service packs.  In addition Microsoft does a really great job with patch Tuesday patches and zero-day patches when applicable.

The point here is you can tell your manager that there is no reason to wait for a service pack.  Windows 2012 is ready now.   It is ready to be tested and deployed now.   I'm in the field just like the rest of you.   Looking forward to this journey.