As Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 share much of the same codebase (on x64 versions in particular) the service pack applies to both operating systems. There are features and fixes though that are specific to each operating system..

Headline Windows 7 related changes..

• Federation services improvement ? namely those supporting WS-federation passive profile protocol.
• Improved HDMI and audio performance ? general issues related to performance now fixed.
• Printing Behaviour ? specifically XPS documents

Headline Windows Server 2008 R2 related changes..

• Dynamic Memory ? HYPERV related improvement allowing more effective use of memory between Virtual machines. Memory can be pooled and dynamically applied to VMs as required without any service interruption. This new feature allows around 20 – 25% more consolidation of VM?s due to the memory enhancements (assuming the rest of your resource can cope).
• Remote FX ? This is a new set of user experience capabilities allowing for an improved and more media rich user experience through remote and session applications. Remote FX can be delivered through a number of thin and thick clients, things like Silverlight and flash can be delivered much better using this new technology. Remote FX also adds USB support for mainstream items like drives, cameras and PDA?s.
• Direct Access ? This isn?t a new feature as it was already included in Windows 2008 but a number of improvements have been made that make the technology a little more scalable.

There?s much more of course but I?d be blogging all day so I?ll leave it there, you get the idea. Anyway, with Service Pack 2 already underway (currently at over 100 updates post SP1).. by the time i finish we?ll be looking at the next service pack.

Satscounter.com has reported that Windows 7 have broken through the 25% market share barrier. But XP dropped down to 50%, showing it is slowly on the decline.

In October Windows 7 reached the ripe old age of 1, with it?s total number of licenses sold at over 240 million and an estimated 300 million to be sold by the end of the year. W7 surpassed Apple?s Snow Leopard market share in just two weeks back in November 2009.

The first W7 service pack is just around the corner, so there still allot of momentum behind the OS. Once that hits there may well be an acceleration in the adoption rate. And with the Christmas consumer rush underway, many users will be upgrading their machines for a W7 PC. 97% of all new PCs will come with Windows 7 pre-installed.

It?s thought that XP will be surpassed by Windows 7 at around this time next year given their current projected paths. In October Microsoft announced a customer satisfaction rate of 94%, and that 88% of businesses moving to W7 in early 2011.

The events main focus on the 11th will be Windows Phone 7, but sources close to the company have suggested that they will briefly speak about their plans for slates.

Microsoft has received some criticism for it?s slow response to the release of the iPad. Microsoft CEO, Steve Ballmer, said that Windows 7 based slates would be available "as soon as they’re ready" earlier in the year. But it seems that Microsoft officials are finally keen on having an answer to the iPad as soon as possible.

Close work with a number of unnamed OEMs has been done in order to give Microsoft a genuine answer to the iPad. Bernstein Research estimates that the iPad is selling about 4.5 million units per quarter. Microsoft is concerned that this is slowly eating away at Windows sales and the recent notebook boom. The 11th should bring a hint at what will be offered and devices that will be available by Christmas. Ballmer’s talk at the London School of Economics on Tuesday promised that Microsoft will cover all form factors. According to Ballmer "You’ll see slates, but if you want most of the benefits of what a PC can offer, creating, a form factor that has been tuned over years, you’ll see us expand the footprint of what Windows can target", and a promise of slates by Christmas.

HP has been working on a consumer version of it?s slate that will run Windows 7, and will have a TouchSmart interface similar to that of it?s touch desktops. This slate was originally revealed at the beginning of the year, but suffered some set backs and was thought to have been shelved. And with the acquisition of Palm by HP in April it was thought that WebOS would be it?s OS of choice. HP won?t confirm if the Slate is still in the pipeline or not.

The C++ representation of JS has also been changed in Beta 3, which allows the browser to execute numeric code more efficiently. This means more streamlined graphics in web applications.

Mozilla has included a feedback add-on in the beta, giving users the ability submit bugs and errors as they come across them. Mozilla has said that the feedback add-on has received 3,500 reports a day from over half a million testers. An extra stat also shows that the majority of testers for Firefox beta are male, and use the web for between 2-6 hours a day. They primarily use Firefox for entertainment and communication.

Many thought that Microsoft would never respond to Apple?s borderline smear campaigns. but it seems that Microsoft have decided to take Apple on. The informative website implies that Macs are potentially "spoiling your fun" and that "take time to learn".

The site compares Windows 7 to Mac OS X in categories such as:

• Having fun
• Simplicity
• Working hard
• Sharing
• Compatibility
• Choice

And the conclusions drawn in these categories are pretty scathing in regards to Apple?s OS.

Arguments against Macs include:

• Macs might spoil your fun
• Macs can take time to learn
• Macs don’t work as well at work or at school
• Macs don’t like to share
• Macs might not like your PC stuff
• Macs don’t let you choose

Not a single positive thing is said about the Mac, but why would it be. At the bottom of the page visitors are encouraged to "find your perfect PC". There are also tweets featured on the site about Windows 7 that show how the OS is being received by users.

Windows 7 was released to manufacturing one year ago, Microsoft say it?s the fastest selling operating system in history and has projected to sell 300 million by the end of the year.

Windows 7 success began before it was even widely available. Released for retail in October 2009 it was received with much praise. It?s now running on 16% of all PCs globally and is likely to overtake Vista?s market share in in the next few weeks. It?s not just Windows 7 that has seen success, Internet Explorer 8 has seen a large uptake. It still maintains the most popular slot on the browser market, and IE9 is not too far away from being released.

Tami Reller, Corporate Vice President of Windows & Windows Live, announced the public beta at Microsoft’s Worldwide Partner Conference in Washington. Plans for W7 SP1 and 2008 R2 SP1 were announced at Microsoft’s annual Tech-Ed conference last month.

The service packs will include the usual hot fixes and previous updates for both OSs, and will bring better virtualization tools for W7 and Remote FX to 2008 R2. You can read more about what the service packs will bring here.

You can download the service pack for your self here.

Signs that the adoption of 64-bit was picking up pace over 32 began early in the year. Valve?s steam gaming software released statistics in January that showed W7 x64 was popular with gamers. Microsoft confirmed that as of June, 46% of all W7 PCs globally are running 64-bit versions. Brandon LeBlanc said "Compared to Windows Vista at 3 and a half years after launch, only 11% of PCs running Windows Vista worldwide are running 64-bit."

Windows 7 success began before the product even became widely available. It was released in October 2009 to much praise, and in November 2009 it has overtaken Apple?s Snow leopard in market share in just two weeks. In February Windows 7 had reached 10% market chare in just three months. And has become the fastest selling OS in History. Microsoft projected that 300 million copies would be sold by the end of 2010.

Windows 7 is a driving force in the uptake of 64-bit computing. ChangeBASE research showed that 65% of businesses are hoping to migrate to W7 within the year and over 50% of those will go the 64-bit route.

The first service pack for Windows 7 is currently worked on by Microsoft, and has been released to beta testers. A public version should hit this month.

Brandon LeBlanc, of the Windows Blog Team made the announcement: "We are excited to announce that Windows 7 has sold 150 million licenses to-date. As I?ve said before, Windows 7 is the fastest selling operating system in history with 7 copies of Windows 7 sold every second." Microsoft  announced back in January that it had sold over 60 million licences of Windows 7, in March they reached 90 million, and estimate that 300 million will be sold in 2010.

Windows was released on the the 22nd of October in 2009, and was greeted with much praise from consumers, businesses and the media. In November 2009 it beat Apple?s Snow Leopard market share in just 2 weeks. And it reached 10% in market share in just three months. The release of W7 has also seen an uptake in 64-bit computing. Research from ChangeBASE predicts that over 65% of businesses will migrate to Windows 7 within it?s first year of release, and over 50% of those will go 64-bit.

In February, screenshots of a Windows 7 post RTM build appeared on the web. This fuelled rumours that Microsoft had started work on a Windows 8 build. An ex Microsoft worker claims the Windows 8 RTM will hit in July 2011. The first service pack for Windows 7 is on it?s way, with beta testers recently being given build 7601.16562.100603-1800. The public beta will drop in July going to public release in September this year.

An e-mails to technical beta testers confirmed the release of SP1 in English, German, Japanese, French and Spanish editions. compiled on June 3 with the number 7601.16562.100603-1800 the update is an impressive 1.22GB in size.

Plans for the service pack were revealed earlier this month along with plans for 2008 R2 SP1. You can read about what the service packs will bring in one of our earlier blogs here.

An early copy of W7 SP1 leaked onto file sharing sites on the internet in April this year. The rumours are that SP1 will also include support for USB 3.0 and enhanced Bluetooth/Wi-Fi stacks, but this hasn?t been confirmed by Microsoft.

The public beta of Windows 7 SP1 is due for release at the end of July.