Office 2007 SP1 Via AU

Microsoft's Automatic Update service will push out Office 2007 Service Pack 1 starting June 16, which adds stability to the office suite as well as a few new features including support for Windows Server 2008


Microsoft to Offer Office 2007 SP1 via Automatic Update

Microsoft's Automatic Update service will push out Office 2007 Service Pack 1 starting June 16.

What does this mean for Office 2007 and Microsoft users in general? Well, it obviously means that Microsoft is finally ready to say that the Office 2007 SP1 is ready for the masses. It's been available for months now, but the software giant has been reluctant to use Automatic Update to dump it to the masses. Late last year Microsoft accidentally distributed the massive Office 2007 SP1 update automatically confusing Vista and XP users.

The service pack adds stability to the office suite as well as a few new features including support for Windows Server 2008 and beefed up compatibility between 2007's native file format, Office Open XML and the formats used by earlier editions of the suite.

If anything, this also proves that Microsoft indeed knows that there are flaws releasing updates in an automatic update manner and is addressing that by almost testing the patches and service packs on voluntary downloaders before putting in on the Automatic Update service.

It will also reportedly come as a rolling release, meaning not everyone will have access to Office 2007 SP1 by way of Automatic Update at first. The first rollout will begin on June 16. Microsoft did a similar rolling release with Office 2003 SP3 which gave the customers time to provide feedback and Microsoft to make adjustments before further pushing out the release.

People rip on Microsoft pretty hardcore, but I think the company deserve at least a little credit for taking the necessary steps to ensure a successful software update. It won't always work, but Microsoft sure does try to do everything it can to make the roll-outs work.