Vista, Office SP2s in the pipeline

While most of the excitement around Windows and Office is based on the next full versions of the products, Microsoft is also working on the next service pack updates for each product.

In a blog posting on Wednesday, Microsoft said Office 2007 Service Pack 2 will come sometime between February and April of next year. It also listed many of the features in the update, which includes previously announced support for the Open Document Format.

The Windows team, on the other hand, is offering far less detail.

It will confirm that there is a Service Pack 2 for Vista but that's about it.

"Microsoft is working on a second service pack for Windows Vista [Windows Vista SP2] and Windows Server 2008," Microsoft said in a statement. "Service packs are part of the traditional software lifecycle - they're something we create for all Microsoft products as part of our commitment to continuous improvement. And, as is standard, Microsoft is continuously having conversations with key stakeholders, prior to broadly distributing test builds. We will share more details in the coming months."

In an interview last week, Microsoft VP Brad Brooks said the company had not, at that point, started outside beta testing of SP2.

Original article: Office, Vista getting new service packs from CNET News.com