Yeah, you can play on any server with it (but it won't have the fast downloads on old servers). I've updated all the EV1 servers to the new build and took down the test server. I've got stuff going on this weekend, so I don't know when I'll have a chance to put an installer together/make an official release, but unless somebody finds a major flaw, it will be the same as what's in the zip.
Not a lot has changed. View the readme for details. Fast downloads were the focus of this build. As for why the downloads were so slow, I believe that was discussed in the fast download implementation thread. In short, the server runs at 10hz and sends 1k blocks. It also waits for an ack on each packet, so effectively 10k/s is the best case, with more typical speeds of 5k/s.