It seems that Microsoft’s upcoming update to Windows 7, the by-now to be expected update to Service Pack 1, is to be delayed, though it should still hit before the end of this year.

That 90 million sales figure is still very impressive indeed

While Microsoft has managed to do very well indeed with Windows 7 so far, selling somewhere in the neighbourhood of 90 million copies of its latest operating system, there will doubtless be many users holding off on the OS until the first of the service pack updates hits. Indeed, it’s long been something of an IT mantra for some companies that an upgrade to a new version of Windows is a bad idea until there’s been a service pack released… so it’s good news that Windows 7’s service pack could well launch significantly ahead of time.

Word comes via TechARP of the shift, which should see Microsoft releasing the Service Pack 1 update to Windows 7 at some point during the fairly nebulous, but still early, fourth quarter of 2010. Indeed, given the fact that Microsoft had previously said that it was planning for a 22-month development of the service pack, it seems a particularly swift release.

Still, given the fact that Windows 7 has seen such widespread adoption, and taking into consideration the vast kafuffle that rose from Windows Vista, the fallout from which was feared would effect the sales of Windows 7. Now though, with Windows 7 fairly firmly in the bag, it could well be the case that Microsoft is just trying to capitalise on the positive reputation by getting the first Service Pack out ahead of time, something that could well help see Windows 7 adoption rise among business users.

Whatever the reason, it’s interesting that we could see a service pack for Windows 7 hit early, though we have little doubt it’ll be welcome news for those already running the OS.