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This report is designed for IT managers who want to understand Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 and the common SP1, so they can decide whether or not to deploy these Windows releases, and learn about specific new features that might benefit their organizations. It covers the most important client capabilities introduced with Windows 7 and explains how Windows Server 2008 R2 improves capabilities for remote access, branch offices, and virtual desktop systems. It also summarizes the most important changes and new features delivered in Windows 7 SP1 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1.

INTRODUCTION

A first service pack (SP1) for both Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2, the current Windows client and server OSs, was generally available in Feb. 2011. Since their joint general availability in Oct. 2009 both OSs, which share common key files, have been remarkably stable and reliable. SP1 contains fixes to address compatibility, performance, reliability, and user experience bugs; security updates previously released through Windows Update; minor changes to existing features; and two new server features. This release may remove any remaining barrier for those organizations that defer deployment of a new OS version until after SP1.

Why Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 Matter

According to Microsoft, Windows 7 has been well received by consumers and businesses, and many organizations have already started Windows 7 deployment projects. Three factors are driving these deployments: many organizations did not deploy Windows Vista, and these organizations do not want to continue to use Windows XP as it is at the end of its supported life; there is a new version of Office—Office 2010—which means an organization can refresh users' desktop OS and applications together; and finally, there are some additional benefits for remote access and branch offices that deploy both Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2.

Potential Payoffs for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2

With its increased stability and reliability, Windows 7 with or without Windows Server 2008 R2 may deliver measurable payoffs, including reduced deployment, support, and power costs. Improvements to the BitLocker disk encryption feature (introduced in Windows Vista) make it easier to deploy and extend the protection to removable storage, such as USB flash drives. DirectAccess and BranchCache improve the way that Windows 7 remote and branch office users connect to Windows Server 2008 R2. Power management has been improved, which will help extend battery life and potentially reduce costs of computers that are rarely turned off or unplugged.

For customers who deployed or evaluated Windows Vista, or are still running Windows XP, the barriers to migration have also come down. More applications and device drivers are compatible with Windows 7, and more PC hardware can run Windows 7 than could run Windows Vista at its launch. A Windows 7 feature called Windows XP mode enables a user to run a virtual machine (VM) with Windows XP and easily access applications running in the VM, enabling users to retain access to PC applications that are not compatible with Windows 7. A similar feature called Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization, part of the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack client management product, enables organizations to centrally configure, deploy and control Windows XP VMs and other VMs run on PCs.

While a new client OS (which Directions will call Windows 8 in this report) could arrive as early as 2012, that OS will contain considerable architectural changes due to the announced support of both Intel's and ARM's system on a chip (SoC) architectures. The new OS version will probably become part of a future platform for tablets and other mobile devices. However, such architectural changes have been known to affect Windows application compatibility, user interfaces, and overall stability, making most organizations unwilling to be early adopters.

This means organizations should be deploying Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 as the new baseline Windows client and server OSs in their organizations.

Benefits Not Guaranteed

Many of the cost savings and other benefits of Windows 7 come by adopting the new and improved desktop management technologies. For example, although Windows 7 has changes designed to improve power management and reduce power consumption—particularly when the computer is not in use—real power savings require using Group Policy to ensure all the computers' power settings are configured optimally to save money.

Another key technology is the imaging-based setup of Windows, which was introduced with Windows Vista but not widely used because Vista was not widely deployed. Using Microsoft tools such as ImageX, administrators can create and deploy Windows images (.wim). The Windows System Image Manager (Windows SIM) helps administrators create and manage unattended Windows Setup answer files in a graphical user interface so that these XML-based answer files can be used during Windows Setup to automatically and consistently configure and customize an organization's default Windows installation. These tools have been improved with Windows 7; for example, support for hard-link migration, which enables in-place migration to process much faster than using traditional file copy mechanisms, was added to the User State Migration Tool (USMT). Hard-link migration in USMT scans a computer for user files and settings, and then creates a directory of links to those files using hard links. The hard links are then remapped into the appropriate locations in the new OS.

Administrators can use the Windows SIM to create an answer file that partitions and formats a disk before installing a standardized Windows image, changes the default setting for the Internet Explorer (IE) home page, and configures how Windows boots after installation. By modifying settings in the answer file, Windows SIM can also install third-party applications, device drivers, language packs, and other updates.

Finally, Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 included all the technologies needed to support running Windows 7 desktops in a centrally managed data center using virtualization. While it holds promise, virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) isn't guaranteed to reduce costs by itself, but has to be carefully planned and managed to ensure server hardware, management, and licensing costs do not outstrip any desktop savings.

Combined Windows Client and Server SP1

Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 SP1 shared a single set of core components, in contrast to earlier versions where client and server were on separate code bases. This shared code base continues with Windows 7 and Windows 2008 R2, and it has enabled Microsoft to ship a combined SP1 for both products. This simplifies testing for Microsoft and maintenance for Microsoft and customers; for example, a single service pack can apply to client and server.

The combined SP1 for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 includes approximately 500 fixes to address compatibility, performance, reliability, and user experience bugs, as well as security updates previously released through Windows Update. The integration or rollup of the previously released updates and new fixes into a service pack is important because it allows organizations to define a new baseline deployment image that does not need to be updated with the previously released stand-alone fixes. Because of the combined code base, approximately 80% of the fixes apply to both OSs, with the remaining 20% equally split between fixes exclusive to the client, such as those addressing Media Center bugs, and fixes exclusive to the server, such as those for Hyper-V.

Minor changes in SP1 add new functionality or modify existing functionality of features in both Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2, including the following:

·         The "Restore previous folders at logon" function will no longer restore folders in a cascaded position based on the location of the most recently active folder; instead, all folders will be restored to their previous positions

·         Additional identification types will be added to the Identification field in the Internet Key Exchange version 2 (IKEv2) authentication protocol to allow for a variety of additional forms of identification (such as E-mail ID or Certificate Subject).

Changes to Windows 7 Client in SP1

Microsoft says the overall impact of SP1 on the Windows 7 client OS is minimal. Minor changes include the following:

· Support for the WS-Federation passive profile, which should simplify the exchange of identity and authentication information between organizations using different platforms

· Improved support for printing of XML Paper Specification (XPS) documents that have pages in mixed (portrait and landscape) mode

· An updated Remote Desktop client to make Windows 7 compatible with the RemoteFX feature (explained below), which is being added to Windows Server 2008 R2 and improves the display of highly graphical applications running across the Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP).

Changes to Windows 7 Client in SP1

Two important new features for organizations using virtualization will be rolled out as part of SP1: dynamic memory and RemoteFX.

Dynamic memory allows administrators to pool all the physical memory available in the server and dynamically distribute it among VMs running on that server's Hyper-V hypervisor, without interrupting service to the VMs. Memory is a key factor in determining how many VMs a physical server can host, and locking up memory in VMs that are not actually using it prevents the host server from fully utilizing its resources. Dynamic memory makes initial VM memory allocation less important, reducing management complexity and improving overall server utilization.

RemoteFX RemoteFX gives a user connecting via Microsoft's RDP graphics capabilities similar to those available if Windows were running on the local computer. RemoteFX enables full-fidelity video with synchronized audio; rich media support, including Silverlight and 3D graphics; and the Windows Aero desktop. RemoteFX is not a new stand-alone product but instead is based on a set of RDP technologies acquired by Microsoft as part of its Jan. 2008 acquisition of Calista Technologies. These technologies will be included in Windows clients and servers and leverage graphics processing units (GPUs) in a physical server to enable high-resolution graphical output for server-based VMs, and these VMs can be accessed from a variety of devices, including thick and thin clients. Although support for server-side GPUs only applies to VDI desktops, the codec enhancements in RemoteFX will also benefit session virtualization using Windows Server 2008 R2 Remote Desktop Services.

In addition, minor changes to the functionality of several features include the following:

· DirectAccess, which enables automated, secure connections from remote computers to corporate networks, offers improved scalability and high availability when used in conjunction with Network Load Balancing

· Managed Service Accounts, which provide crucial applications such as SQL Server and IIS (the Windows Web server) with the isolation of their own domain accounts while eliminating the need for an administrator to manually administer the service principal name and credentials for these accounts, can now be used in secure branch office scenarios

· Improved performance tuning of domain controllers by allowing more granular control over the number of concurrent connections

· Improvements to the Cluster Validation and multiple Failover Cluster Manager Wizards to allow workloads to use disks that are shared between a subset of cluster nodes.

Conclusions

The release of the first service pack for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 should remove the last barrier any organizations have to deploying these releases of Windows. Aging Windows XP is no longer viable, and even though Vista with SP2 is also stable and reliable, it is not worth deploying when Windows 7 is as good if not better.

Customers have always been willing to upgrade to Windows Server, accepting that it has been getting more reliable with every release. The key to deciding whether or not to deploy a particular Windows Server release is whether or not the applications the organization needs, such as Exchange, SQL Server, and SharePoint, run on the release.

Organizations need to be cautious about skipping Windows 7 and waiting for Windows 8, as little is known about when it will be released and what the architectural changes to support SoC will mean to reliability.

What’s Ahead

This report is designed for IT managers who want to understand Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 and the common SP1, so they can decide whether or not to deploy these Windows releases, and learn about specific new features that might benefit their organizations. The following chapters focus primarily on Windows 7:

Windows 7 Lockers Secure Data and Applications provides an overview of changes to BitLocker Drive Encryption, the addition of BitLocker to Go, which can encrypt removable drives, and the new Application Locker, which can control which applications users can access.

Virtual PC and XP Mode Aid Application Compatibility describes how a free virtual machine monitor and Windows XP SP3 virtual hard drive image will provide a workaround for remaining application compatibility issues.

Internet Explorer 8 describes the latest version of Microsoft's browser, and browser features such as InPrivate Browsing. IE8 is included with most editions of Windows 7 (it is also available through Windows Update for Vista and Windows XP). This chapter also previews IE9, which is already in the final testing stages before its release in Mar. 2011.

Windows 7 Still Targets Tablet PCs reviews Microsoft's tablet strategy based around Windows 7 and looks at announcements regarding future Windows support for SoC.

The following chapters focus primarily on Windows Server 2008 R2 and how the server and client interact:

Windows 7 Integrates with Windows Server 2008 R2 discusses how Windows 7 uses the latest version of Windows Server to enhance remote access, file system performance, and other processes. Two new features, DirectAccess and BranchCache, will only be available for Windows 7 users in a Windows Server 2008 R2 managed network.

Hyper-V Gains Dynamic Memory looks at this new SP1 feature and how it should allow more VMs to run simultaneously on Hyper-V.

RemoteFX Improves Remote Desktop Protocol examines how this new way to process graphics should improve both the quality and performance of rendering graphical images to Remote Desktop clients.

Understanding Windows Virtual Desktop Infrastructure presents information on using Hyper-V to centrally manage Windows 7 desktops in an organization.

Resources is a guide to additional information about the topics discussed in this report.