Available alongside Windows 7 SP1 Beta

Jul 13, 2010 14:19 GMT  ·  By

Although it was initially planned for availability at the end of July 2010, Microsoft managed to launch the first public Beta of Service Pack 1 for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 at the Worldwide Partner Conference 2010 in Washington D.C. The Beta bits have been available for download since July 12th for the latest iteration of both Windows client and server.

“We managed to get this puppy out the door a few weeks early, so take advantage and download the code to evaluate the new features and benefits that SP1 can provide for server and desktop installations. The final version of SP1 is due out in the first half of next year,” noted Oliver Rist, Sr. Product Manager Windows Server Marketing.

As far as Windows 7 customers already know, the client-side upgrade will not introduce any new features. But whereas Windows 7 SP1 will be nothing more than a collection of updates and tweaks, Windows Server -2008 R2 SP1 will bring to the table new features on top of the changes shared with the client version of the OS.

Microsoft has already offered extensive details on the new additions to Windows Server 2008 SP1, labeled Dynamic Memory and RemoteFX. The company has been discussing the new features since earlier this year. However, Rist provided a reminder of what early adopters starting to test Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 Beta have to look for:

“Dynamic memory lets Hyper-V administrators pool available memory on a physical host and dynamically distribute it to any virtual machine(s) running on that host. So as the workloads on that physical workload change, requiring more or less memory, Dynamic Memory will let administrators change the memory allocation to their VMs without service interruption,” he said.

“RemoteFX enhances Microsoft desktop virtualization. RemoteFX lets Windows Server 2008 R2 administrators provide an even richer and user-transparent desktop virtualization experience. RemoteFX delivers rich content, independent of any graphics stack, to server-hosted virtual and session-based desktops, allowing them to support any screen content, including full-motion video, portable graphics stacks such as Silverlight, and 3D applications. Because it can use virtualized graphics on the server and advanced codecs , RemoteFX can deliver those experiences to a much wider array of target devices, including standard desktops and laptops but also an emerging slew of thin clients. You'll also be able to forward the USB ports of the local client to the virtual machine being accessed on the device - just like you can forward the local printer over RDP today,” Oliver added.

Windows 7 Service Pack 1 (SP1) Beta and Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 (SP1) Beta are available for download here.

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