Office 2007 Service Pack 2 available for download

Microsoft recently committed to making Office 2007 Service Pack 2 (SP2) available for download on April 28. And, as promised, it is out there.

Existing Office 2007 users can grab SP2 from the Microsoft Download Center.

SP2 provides the usual security, performance and reliability fixes that SPs deliver. SP2 is especially tuned to update Outlook and SharePoint Server, according to the company. SP2 also includes support for more file formats, such as PDF and ODF, Microsoft oficials said. Here's more from Microsoft's release on Office 2007 SP2:

"(SP2) Users should notice the improved performance and stability of Outlook, better charting functionality in Excel, and more control over the appearance of SmartArt graphics.

"On the server side, IT professionals will notice several enhancements to the security and performance of SharePoint Server 2007, including support for read-only content databases, improvements to forms-based authentication, and an STSADM command-line utility that enables administrators to scan sites that use the variations feature for errors. SharePoint Server will also feature better support for newer versions of the Firefox browser."

Microsoft is planning to start pushing Office 2007 SP2 via Automatic Update "no sooner than three months from now," (so, on or around July 28)," according to the company, and with no fewer than 30 days notice.

On a related note, it looks like Vista SP2 might not be availble in April, after all, as many had been expecting. The new possible release date is early May, some Microsoft enthusiasts are now speculating. But others are claiming that Vista SP2 has RTM'd, and thus could possibly be released sooner.