Microsoft's Windows Server 2008 and 2008 R2 customers still represent a large group, as Microsoft has announced an additional year of Extended Security Updates (ESU) with a caveat. Only available for Microsoft Azure customers, the ESU program will allow Windows Server 2008 and R2 users on Azure cloud to get security updates until January 9, 2024. By no means is this not a free program, and Microsoft will bill this extensively as it is available internationally. Many customers are forced to join the ESU program for their Windows Server 2008 and R2 systems, as upgrading the OS to the latest version is not always possible without significant downtime or a hardware update.

The following customer base has legibility to the fourth year of the ESU program:

• Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 (SP1)
• Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2 (SP2)
• Windows Embedded POSReady 7
• Windows Embedded Standard 7
• All Azure virtual machines (VMs) running Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows Server 2008 operating systems on Azure, Azure Stack, Azure VMWare Solutions, or Azure Nutanix Solution.

Microsoft has no plans to release a new service pack (SP) for Windows 7. Sources at Microsoft's engineering team told The Register that breaking precedent (of releasing a new SP every 2 or so years), Microsoft will not release SP2 (service pack 2) for the operating system. Apart from being a collection of important software updates over a period, a service pack allows Microsoft to introduce major updates to key components of the operating system, such as its kernel. Apparently, Microsoft's Windows team is too busy with Windows 8, and it is observed that by choosing to not release an SP, Microsoft could be pushing users to its newer OS. Instead of newer SPs for Windows 7, Microsoft will release timely updates for Windows 7 SP1 over Windows Update, till the operating system's support lifetime runs out (that's January 2020).

DisplayLink, the leading provider of technology for virtual graphics and USB-connected computing, and Listeq, a developer of interactive learning systems, today announced the DisplayLink SDK for Windows .NET that enables simple plug and display connectivity of a virtually unlimited number of DisplayLink-powered monitors.

DisplayLink has taken the technical challenge and complications out of connecting multiple monitors by allowing software developers to utilize an optimized approach to create systems that require large numbers of connected displays, such as:

Microsoft has just posted the official download links for the final version of Service Pack 2 (SP2) for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008. You need to have Service Pack 1 to install SP2 and that's pretty much everything. The standalone downloads are available in five different languages: English, French, German, Japanese, Spanish. Find more info in the download links.

DOWNLOAD: Windows Vista/Server 2008 Service Pack 2 x32 | Windows Vista/Server 2008 Service Pack 2 x64