Today is February 16, and that means that Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 is officially available to a select few Microsoft customers – MSDN and TechNet subscribers, and Microsoft’s steadfast volume licensing customers.
As we’ve discussed a number of times, Windows 7 SP1 is basically no big deal. It’s composed mostly of security updates and hotfixes that have already been made available to customers, whether through Windows Update or otherwise – it doesn’t bring the wide-ranging changes and performance improvements required by, say, Windows XP SP2 or Windows Vista SP1.
Windows Server 2008 R2 users get two new features in RemoteFX, a feature that will allow server-side graphics rendering for thin clients using Microsoft’s Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) system, and Dynamic Memory, which will allow a single server to host more virtual machines using the same amount of memory and resources.
These features are great if your organization is using Windows Server as a backend for thin clients, but for most consumers they’re of little interest.
The updates haven’t yet posted as of this writing (I’m looking at the MVLS volume licensing site at about 11AM EST), but they should go up sometime today. If the past is any indication, the download should be made available both as a patch for existing Windows installations, and as an .ISO of a Windows install DVD for fresh installations.
General availability to the public is still scheduled for February 22.
As we’ve discussed a number of times, Windows 7 SP1 is basically no big deal. It’s composed mostly of security updates and hotfixes that have already been made available to customers, whether through Windows Update or otherwise – it doesn’t bring the wide-ranging changes and performance improvements required by, say, Windows XP SP2 or Windows Vista SP1.
Windows Server 2008 R2 users get two new features in RemoteFX, a feature that will allow server-side graphics rendering for thin clients using Microsoft’s Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) system, and Dynamic Memory, which will allow a single server to host more virtual machines using the same amount of memory and resources.
These features are great if your organization is using Windows Server as a backend for thin clients, but for most consumers they’re of little interest.
The updates haven’t yet posted as of this writing (I’m looking at the MVLS volume licensing site at about 11AM EST), but they should go up sometime today. If the past is any indication, the download should be made available both as a patch for existing Windows installations, and as an .ISO of a Windows install DVD for fresh installations.
General availability to the public is still scheduled for February 22.
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