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.

Windows Vista waited two years before it was given SP2, and Windows XP waited three years for its second Service Pack. Windows 7 is now coming to the close of its third year. Customers are nearing the end of Microsoft's support of Service Pack 1 (which ends in 2013), and support for the operating system as a whole (which ends in 2015, or 2020 for those with extended support).

Ultimately, this may be seen either as a bid to force enterprise users onto Windows 8 more quickly, or simply as a prioritization of engineering resources. After all, why release a major update pack if many customers seem reasonably satisfied with the fixes of SP1? Whatever the case may be, customers shouldn't get their hopes up for a second bundle of updates.