The original plan vaguely defined «2010», but Microsoft’s latest statements about the launch of Windows 7 did not indicate any date, preferring to say that it would be on sale when «it was ready». Now the company confirms that the new operating system will be launched this year, in time for the Christmas season.
Several rumors already indicated the month of October as the date when Windows 7 would see the light in the final version and the fact that the Release Candidate has already been launched indicates that the testing and validation process is approaching the final steps.
Today the vice president for Windows, Bill Veghte, confirmed that Microsoft is on the right path for a Christmas with Windows 7. The announcement was made at Tech • Ed North America 2009, where the company also announced the availability of Release Candidate for Windows Server 2008 R2, whose final version will be released at the same time as Windows 7.
The Windows Server 2008 R2 RC download is available at http://www.microsoft.com/WindowsServer2008R2.
Bill Veghte explained that the Windows 7 Release Candidate, launched last week, is already very stable, while the partner network is quickly joining the new operating system, with some hardware certifications already in place.
It is recalled that Windows Vista was launched on January 30, 2007 and that the third anniversary of this operating system was marked as the release date of Windows 7. But Microsoft seems to want to demarcate itself from this date, anticipating the launch to take advantage of still the Christmas season, where the consumer area normally experiences significant sales growth.
