Internet Explorer 9 Will Have Windows 7 SP1 Bits
IE9 final will need a little bit of Windows 7 SP1.
Internet Exporer 9 beta hit the public during the middle of this month, which showed off the new browser's tight integration with Windows 7's newest features.
Last week, a TechNet FAQ stated that Windows 7 Service Pack 1 would be required for the install and operation for the final version of Internet Explorer 9, but that was in error.
Microsoft has updated its FAQ to clarify that, while IE9 does use new OS features that aren't available in the RTM build of Windows 7, the SP1 won't be required. Instead, IE9 will install additional system components that are part of SP1 into the Windows 7 RTM.
From the FAQ:
When Microsoft releases Internet Explorer 9, will it require Windows 7 Service Pack 1?
No. Internet Explorer 9 will install on systems that have either Windows 7 RTM or Windows 7 with Service Pack 1 (SP1) installed. When you install Internet Explorer 9 on a system that has Windows 7 RTM installed, additional operating system components are included as part of the installation of Internet Explorer 9. When you install Internet Explorer 9 on a system that has Windows 7 SP1 installed, these additional components are already present with Windows 7 SP1, and do not need to be reinstalled when you install Internet Explorer 9. For this reason, a system reboot is not required when you install Internet Explorer 9 on a system that has Windows 7 SP1 installed.

Which OS would that be?
(I'm sitting in a company with over 190 windows pcs and servers and I've got zero problems)
Comments like yours makes me wonder for the future
Possibly because you've already installed all the updates that it contains.
Seconded. Who gives a crap, ah? Pfft. Boring. Get a real browser. Get a real OS for that matter.
Which OS would that be?
(I'm sitting in a company with over 190 windows pcs and servers and I've got zero problems)
Comments like yours makes me wonder for the future
In this day and age a reboot should not be required for the majority of updates. It certainly shouldn't be forced on you at any rate, which Windows does (less so than it did in XP, but it still does).
If the Win7 service packs follow the XP pattern, the one to download would be the equivalent of the "IT" version - the one that updates everything. That would be the one size (big) fits all.
Why would you not buy it for me....
Microsoft has been doing a lot of good things lately: Windows 7 is great, Office 2009 was a big step forward, and Visual Studio has really always been the defacto standard.
I just haven't seen the love yet on IE. Maybe this is the year!
The "system elements" that IE 9 requires (and that need a reboot) are patches to Direct2D: the version shipped with Win7 RTM is incomplete and buggy - and Direct2D being a basis for many Win7 integrated apps, it needs a reboot.
Except if you already installed a Platform Preview or a Beta, in which case you should be good to go - even without SP1.
Or not: if it does like with some Platform Previews, Mozilla will find more bugs in the patches and ask Microsoft to correct those - again (Firefox 4 also uses Direct2D if available).
It is when I'm in the server room but then again, Hyper-v will resolve that.
Why? Are they MAKING you update?
Oh wait, hold on.... I GOT THIS ONE!
I'm gonna say the answer is: No
I win $100? Or at least brownies?
I too am sitting at a company (well, technically a university) that is running 80.5% Windows, 19% Mac, and 0.5% Linux/Unix. The server room has only three Unix/Linux servers in it; the rest (50+ servers) are Windows along with the 7 or so Mac servers. And I'm counting virtual installs too, not just the physical blades.
So I too fail to see how Windows isn't a "real" operating system.
This is a pretty common misconception. A service pack is not the sum of updates prior to it. Updates are developed individually with no cross-update regression testing possible. They belong in a different code tree from the one that follows the RTM->sp1->sp2... path. The equivalent fix for an issue in the service pack may or may not use the code from the update. Service packs get full regression testing (why would you have an sp beta if the equivalent fixes are already in the wild) and often include fixes that are not available through any update.
Just FYI