Throughout December 2008, rumors persisted that Microsoft had already completed development of the Windows 7 build that would later be released to the public. That build, artificially bumped up to an even number 7000, was in fact finalized by mid-December and entered into a so-called escrow phase. Over the next few weeks, the software giant tested build 7000 extensively to ensure that it met the lofty quality bars required for a public release, iterating the code (but not the build number) here and there in order to squash bugs. By the end of the month, build 7000 had leaked, and I published a massive review and several screenshot galleries of what would become the public Beta...

Full article: Shipping Seven: An Ongoing Dialog About the Next Windows Part 6: Public Beta | Paul Thurrott

Posted By: killercat
08 Feb 2009