Windows 7 on Track to Hit This Holiday Season

[z3r010]

There has been quite a bit of speculation and chatter around the timing of milestones for Windows 7. Of course folks want to know when Windows 7 will become available in stores and on new PCs. We’re in a good position today to provide an update to the timing of when we expect for that to happen. I’m really excited to be able to give this update – particularly given what it takes to deliver a high quality OS to millions of partners, customers, developers and the entire ecosystem.

Our approach to the development of Windows 7, as we’ve highlighted in the past, has been tied to people like you around the world contributing in real-time by testing our key Windows 7 milestones - from the Pre-Beta we handed out to PDC attendees last year, to the Windows 7 Beta, and now the Windows 7 RC which we recently released for everyone to try. Steven Sinofsky outlined this milestone-to-milestone approach in this blog post back in January. And today, Steven highlights the path to our next milestone for Windows 7 – RTM, or release to manufacturing. RTM is the final stage for the engineering of Windows 7.

If the telemetry we receive from the Windows 7 RC meets our expectations in terms of quality, then we expect to hit RTM in 3 months or so. Again, check out Steven’s blog post on this process. If this happens, it looks like we’ll be able to have Windows 7 done in time for the holidays. I want to underscore that our top priority remains QUALITY. This guidance does not alter that principle.

Bill Veghte shared this news today at TechEd North America 2009 taking place in Los Angeles right now. Here is what he said in today’s press release:

Microsoft is committed to ensuring that IT professionals and developers continue to have the platform and technologies to drive maximum value and business results. Getting the most out of IT investments is even more important in today’s economy.

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He also adds:

With early RC testing and extensive partner feedback we’ve received, Windows 7 is tracking well for holiday availability.

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Thank you for being great partners and customers, providing the kind of feedback required for us to be able to give this type of guidance. And honestly, I can’t say thank you enough!

The telemetry and testing continue, and we encourage IT Professionals and enthusiasts to try the Windows 7 RC out at home and at work if you’re not doing so already. Share it with your friends who may also want to take it for a test drive. I currently am running the Windows 7 RC on every PC I own – at home and in the office. I am also recommending my friends and even family members try it too. And everyone I’ve recommended try it and has done so has been impressed!

So there are two things you should go and do today if you haven’t already: go get the Windows 7 RC and… watch Star Trek because the movie is amazing. Since I’m running the Windows 7 RC on all my PCs (yes, every single one), I think I’ll have to go see Star Trek again.

More...

 

[Digger]

If the telemetry we receive from the Windows 7 RC meets our expectations in terms of quality, then we expect to hit RTM in 3 months or so. Again, check out Steven’s blog post on this process. If this happens, it looks like we’ll be able to have Windows 7 done in time for the holidays. I want to underscore that our top priority remains QUALITY. This guidance does not alter that principle.

/me is speechless
/me is picking jaw off of floor

Quality he says? if they use the same guidelines for "quality" for RC with RTM... well, this is where the speechless comes into play... overwhelmed so much by that statement, i dont know where to begin. Well, i take that back, i know where i could begin, i'm just not sure there's an ending to it.

really taken back by this, almost like they are somewhat oblivious it seems. Just not about one particular problem or issue. They need to start from the pub beta again and go from there imo. I feel as if the RC was compiled as a collaborative overwritten compilation of betas. Not a clean build of the OS, like a cut/copy paste coding scenario and things werent double checked and rechecked. I'm no coder, claim ignorance, but atleast thats how this "RC" feels.

anyways, my 2 pennies...

thanks for the read z3r0

 

[patrickt]

I like the beta, although it was clearly a work in progress, and I find the RC1 quite stable and functional. I'll be looking forward to a final relase.

 

[myzr7]

With early RC testing and extensive partner feedback we’ve received, Windows 7 is tracking well for holiday availability.

" I'll be home for Christmas, you can count on me" gotta love the holidays. Good news to thoose of us that do not have network problems. Or other gliches which seems to be many other. lm

 

[RST101]

My experience of windows seven is absolutely fantastic. I do not have a single issue (although it is copied and pasted) even though I run intense graphical games. It is as stable as they come and the performance is unmatched. Add to that the fact you can change the aero theme to suit your needs and what more could you ask for.

Imo it already has a quality tattoo.

 

[1Bowtie]

+1 on that RST101

When I started testing i was prob 70/30 XP side, now I'm prob 95/5% Win 7 7100 RC side, I'm so satisfied i forget i have XP installed. Can't wait for RETAIL will have 1st day i can find. If your computor is clean there are no problems with this RC.

Smitty

 

[Dragor1]

+1 to that too, 1 Bowtie! Haven't logged into XP for ages now! Well, a week actually!

+2 on RST101's thoughts as well!

 

[xan K]

great news! just set the pricing right and I'll be definitely buying this beauty.

 

[Romulinx2]

Thanks, great news. The RC is brilliant so I wont have any complaints from the RTM.

 

[runningnak3d]

Hideous Start Orb

They REALLY REALLY need to get rid of the hideous Start Orb. It looked great with Vista, but it is SOOO out of place in 7.

I realize someone will hack uxtheme.dll so that we can get rid of the Orb, but it would be REAL nice if something that FIT with the rest of the look and feel of 7 was included out of the box.

Yea, yea, yea it is a small thing -- but the small things add up.

-- Brian

 

[Joe]

That's great news. Windows 7 RC is showing great potential. With only a very unusual dual screen condition, it's running very smoothly.

After my fresh install, the system seems to be running lean, only using 667mb of resident memory. (only the mouse and video drivers were added at this time)
The OS + mentioned drivers are using 42 processes.

The restart time was sub-minute, which I was very happy to see

I've attached a couple of screen shots of the fresh install. The background is of course not default in Windows 7. It is a 3360x1050 image