Microsoft released Windows Home Sever Power Pack 1 to manufacturing on July 21, 2008, and subsequently the gold bits were made available through the Download Center. The Redmond company offered just the English version of the Power Pack initially, indicating that the German, Spanish and French versions would drop in August along with the Chinese and Japanese variants. Ten days after the RTM of PP1, Microsoft is telling customers not to hold out from acquiring Windows Home Server products just because of the new media release, as they will get PP1 anyway.

"There is no reason to wait for the new media release of Windows Home Server - if you buy it today, the Power Pack 1 update is free and will be applied via a Windows Update," advised Todd Headrick, the product planner for the Microsoft Windows Home Server.

The Windows Home Server Power Pack 1 brings a variety of enhancements from bug fixes to functionality tweaks. Perhaps the most important issue dealt with by PP1 is the data corruption bug which has been plaguing the operating system. But in addition, Windows Home Server Power Pack 1 comes with boosted performance, power consumption with increased efficiency, and with remote access capabilities kicked up a notch. Microsoft plans to debut the automatic serving of the final bits of Windows Home Server Power Pack 1 through Windows Update by the end of this month.

"In early August, we will add the German, French and Spanish update packages to the Download Center and also distribute the Power Pack 1 package via Windows Updates so if you want to skip the manual steps of using the Download Center you only have to wait a little longer. In addition, we will be releasing new media kits of the software into the System Builder channel in the coming weeks," Headrick added.

Windows Home Server Power Pack 1 is available for download here.