At Microsoft's TechEd 2010 conference, which kicked off today, company execs announced that the Service Pack 1 public beta for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 would arrive no later than the end of July.

As you may recall from our previous coverage, SP1 brings a couple very notable new VDI features to Server 2008: Dynamic Memory and RemoteFX.

But as Microsoft's Gavriella Shuster notes in the Windows for Your Business Blog, SP1 is also notable for what it doesn't include--namely, new Windows 7 features. That may sound like a negative, but it's actually good news for enterprise customers. Here's why:

While the new features for Windows Server 2008 R2 benefit Windows 7 by providing a richer VDI experience, SP1 will not contain any new features that are specific to Windows 7 itself. For Windows 7, SP1 will simply be the combination of updates already available through Windows Update and additional hotfixes based on feedback by our customers and partners. In other words, customers can feel confident about deploying Windows 7 now!

To prove the claim, Shuster notes that "several organizations of all sizes" are already deploying Windows 7, and not waiting for SP1 like with operating systems past. (Actually, I'm pretty sure the number is higher than "several.")

Also announced at TechEd today: Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization (MED-V to its friends) v2 beta will be available by the fourth quarter of this year. Among the highlights:

MED-V v2 will provide a seamless user experience that will take advantage of Virtual PC 7 enabling USB support. It will also be fully manageable by System Center Configuration Manager which will simplify overhead and management for IT professionals.

Good stuff outta Redmond.