First published on CloudBlogs on Jun, 19 2009
There have been some recent changes for the RTM versions of Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 related to where content is rendered (client or host) when remoted over RDP 7. Read on to learn more about what has changed, and how various types of content are remoted in the final version of RDP7.
In pre-release Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 we provided the ability to remote GDI, DirectX 10.1/DXGI 1.1, Direct2D, Aero Glass experience, and media with Windows Media Player using a client-based rendering technique. This has the advantage of utilizing available client side CPU/GPU resources to do all the rendering and rasterization of the graphical data
.
Other content types, such as WPF, Silverlight, Flash, and DirectX 9 applications, were remoted using our enhanced bitmap acceleration feature in R2, where host-side CPU/GPU resources are utilized to perform the rendering and rasterization on the host before sending these bitmaps efficiently over the network.
In the RTM version of Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2, GDI applications, media with Windows Media Player, and Aero Glass will continue using the client-side rendering for remote scenarios as demonstrated in the pre-release version. For the RTM release, client-based rendering will no longer be available for DirectX 10.1 / DXGI 1.1 and Direct 2D applications, instead this type of content will be remoted using host-side resources leveraging the enhanced bitmap acceleration capabilities in R2. This decision was made based on the feedback we received during the engineering and validation process, where the number one requirement was quality and robustness. While this design change may impact the utilization of CPU and GPU resources on the host side for certain use cases, it provides a consistent approach to remoting multiple types of rich (2D and 3D) content across a broad range of rich and thin client devices.
