Windows 7 Service Pack 1: What is inside

Leakers seem to have gotten their hands on what may be the final Windows 7 Service Pack 1/Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 builds.

(I had heard rumors that Microsoft had put the finishing touches on SP1 in December, but don™t know for sure whether that is true.)

Microsoft officials are not saying whether the latest leaked version is the œreal SP1 release-to-manufacturing version. As usual, the advice to customers is to wait for the official Microsoft-provided SP1 before deploying to avoid potential malware and security risks.

Unlike previous first service packs of Windows ” which were an absolute must-have for many business users before they™d even think about deploying the latest Windows variant ” the coming SP1 feels a bit anti-climactic. (At least on the client side.)

Microsoft officials have said not to expect any new features in Windows 7 SP1. (There was a Microsoft blog post last year that acknowledged there would be some œfeature enhancements in SP1 around federation services, audio devices and printing.) They™ve also said to expect a couple of new virtualization updates in the server version of SP1, specifically RemoteFX and a dynamic-memory adjustor for Hyper-V.

RemoteFX is a new graphics acceleration platform that is based on desktop-remoting technology that Microsoft obtained in 2008 when it acquired VDI vendor Calista Technologies. The new Hyper-V feature in SP1 will dynamically adjust memory of a guest virtual machine on demand.

For months, Microsoft execs have been telling business users there is no need to wait for SP1 to begin their Windows 7 deployment processes. Quite a few have heeded this call, with Forrester Research estimating that 10 percent of business PCs in North America and Europe already were running Windows 7 as of last fall. Forrester said at that time that 90 percent of those users it surveyed eventually planned to move to Windows 7.

I™ve asked Microsoft officials when MSDN, TechNet, volume and other customers should expect the final SP1 build and was told the company had nothing more to share at this time.

Source: ZD Net