Microsoft has unleashed the release candidate bits to Service Pack 1 for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2. Since they’re both based on the same kernel and code base they get most of their major patches together.
Weighing in at 514MB for the 32-bit version and 865MB for 64-bit, these are not light updates. It includes all hotfixes and patches released in the last year. You also have the option of installing a small patch to tell Windows Update to automagically do the downloading for you, but the effect on your Internet connection will be the same.
A couple of new features introduced in Service Pack 1 include:
RemoteFX introduces a new set of remote user experience capabilities that enable a media-rich user environment for virtual and session-based desktops. RemoteFX can be deployed to a range of thick and thin client devices, enabling cost-effective, local-like access to graphics-intensive applications. RemoteFX also supports a broad array of USB peripherals to improve the productivity of users of virtual desktops.
SP1 also includes Dynamic Memory, which enables servers running Hyper-V for server virtualization, to be more efficient in the use of memory. Dynamic Memory pools and distributes memory among the virtual machines running on a physical host, enabling higher consolidation ratios, increasing server utilization rates, and providing more flexible workload management.
It’s not recommended to run the RC on production systems, as you have to uninstall it prior to installing the final version and that just makes your system all kinds of unhappy. The final bits should be released in first quarter 2011.