Microsoft delivers Windows 7 SP1 release candidate

From InfoWorld: With little fanfare, Microsoft on Tuesday promoted Windows 7 Service Pack 1 to release candidate status, hitting the last major milestone before the code is finalized and shipped early next year.

The company posted Windows 7 SP1 RC on its site early Tuesday in a combined download for the client operating system and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1.

The release candidate, or RC, is the first edition aimed at the general public, a Microsoft spokesman said in a entry on the company's blog . It will also be the last, as the company will move directly from SP1 RC to RTM, or "release to manufacturing," a term that describes code that's been given the green light for duplication and distribution to computer makers.

Microsoft also repeated what it has said several times already, that Windows 7 SP1 includes "no additional new features specific to Windows 7," but instead will be a collection of all security updates and non-security hotfixes that have been issued via Windows Update.

The only notable addition to Windows 7 SP1 is an updated Remote Desktop client designed to work with RemoteFX, the new remote-access platform included with Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1. The latter also includes a feature dubbed "Dynamic Memory," which lets IT staff adjust guest virtual machines' memory on the fly.

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