Microsoft ships Service Pack 1 of Windows 7

Microsoft has announced that the first service pack for Windows 7 and Windows 2008 R2 hits the download servers starting today. The company had already released the final code to OEM partners before, 9 February, followed by MSDN and TechNet subscribers, customers, and volume licensing customers on 16 February, but now anyone will be able to do so via the website of the Microsoft Download Center, via Windows Update or here (links at the end of the download).

So, what can you expect from SP1? For Windows Server 2008, affect desktop virtualization platform from Microsoft that directly two new features: dynamic memory of Microsoft and Microsoft RemoteFX. The former offers an on-the-fly memory to a virtual machine while the latter provides a virtualized 3D graphics experience for remote users. For Windows 7, this is mostly a collection of minor bug fixes and updates that may have already installed, but also includes an updated Remote Desktop client which uses RemoteFX.

Still, the release of Windows 7 SP1 is an important milestone as it might help to further fuel operating system adoption among enterprises, which generally wait for kinks to be ironed out before jumping on the bandwagon.

Note that users who are running an earlier iteration of SP1, including a beta or release candidate, you will need to uninstall it first catch before the final release. Instructions on how to uninstall a service pack is available here.

Download Link:
Service Pack 1 32-bit Microsoft Windows 7
Microsoft Windows 7 & Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 64-bit

Seagate ships over 1 million self-encrypting HDD

Seagate has announced that it has shipped more than 1 million self-drive laptop and enterprise class disk drives. Seagate ships now 24 products in a family of self-drive units (SEDs) that includes the Savvio, Cheetah, constellation ES and constellation. Seagate SED enterprise shipments have tripled in the last two quarters, while the company portable SED shipments have doubled in each of the last three years.

Seagate has managed to reach the milestone thanks to support from original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and independent software vendors (ISVs). Six OEMS (Dell, Fujitsu, Hitachi, IBM, LSI and Network Appliance) currently offer products powered by SEDs Seagate enterprise. ISV partnerships Seagate have grown to include leaders of Credant security, McAfee, Mobile Armor, Secude, Softex, Symantec, Wave Systems and WinMagic. They provide management software so that organizations can easily manage and protect encryption keys and passwords to simplify deployments of Seagate Momentus and Momentus thin SEDs.

Family of Seagate Savvio, Cheetah, constellation and Momentus SEDs have secured FIPS 140-2 certification from the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The company has the first HDD portable and enterprise with certification of Government, which clears the way for deployments of Seagate SEDs by all of the United States and Canadian federal agencies, many State and local governments and more regulated industries. Several OEMS are now qualifying SEDs Momentus which conform to the specifications of Opal the Trusted Computing Group, issued by the international body in 2009, and which aims to increase the adoption of SEDs.