Microsoft details virtualisation plans

FADING SOFTWARE MONOPOLIST Microsoft has announced a few more details about its Service Pack 1 (SP1) for Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7.

According to the Vole's website, more details will be released over the next few months. However at the moment Microsoft wants to tell us about its glorious virtualisation plans.

It announced that Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 will deliver two important new features that directly affect Microsoft's desktop virtualization stack - Dynamic Memory and RemoteFX.

Dynamic memory will be an enhancement to Hyper-V in Windows Server and Windows 7 and it will allow IT administrators to pool all the memory available on a physical host and dynamically distribute it to virtual machines running on that host as necessary.

That will mean that, based on changes in workload, Windows VM guests will be able to receive new memory allocations without a service interruption.

The operating systems are also going to use RemoteFX, which the Vole said will mean richer and more user-transparent desktop virtualization. RemoteFX will function independently of any graphics stack and support any screen content, including rich content like Silverlight or Flash.

It supposedly will work on a wide array of target devices, which means you can deploy it over both thick and thin client hosts and in a wide variety of network configurations.

Microsoft also plans to decrease its prices for running virtual desktops under Windows, according to a report at Network World. µ