01/12/2009, 2:10pm, EST
Monday, January 12thWindows 7 may ship as early as July
The timing of Microsoft's Windows 7 beta and its expiry dates provides a clue as to the actual ship date of the final product, according to info gathered by Microsoft observer Ed Bott. The software officially expires on August 1st but does so just a month after the believed July 1st start of a Windows 7 upgrade program for new PCs, effectively marking off July as the release month. Anonymous sources of Bott's have also suggested a similar launch window.
The company has provided both historical and recent signs that it may accelerate the release towards mid-summer. The launch of Vista's upgrade program was held just two weeks before the operating system was released to manufacturing in late October of 2007, while Microsoft has also mentioned an unusually short testing cycle for Windows 7 that includes just a single instance each of the beta and release candidate versus the company's much longer traditional cycle.
Previous public releases of Windows test versions, such as for XP, have also deliberately introduced overlap to ensure that either a later test version or the finished product is available ahead of time.
A release in or near July would validate beliefs that Microsoft is pursuing an accelerated release cycle helped both by the relative stability of 7's Vista foundation as well as user resistance to Vista that has prompted some PC makers to keep XP on sale well past its official expiry date.
Filed under: software
Other story tags: Microsoft, Vista, Windows 7
, 
, 14
, 
, 
, 
, 
, 
, 
Top
subscribe to comments
for this article
Vista buyers got
totally screwed if Microsoft is going to release Windows 7 in July. I guess Jerry Seinfeld didn't do much to help Vista sales. Since there'll be three versions of Win7, it might not take as much processing power as Vista required. Will the netbook version run on regular desktops? I wouldn't mind if I could run a stripped down version of Leopard on my older computers.
no problem for Microsoft
Hell, they could "ship" Windows 7 tomorrow, because it's just Vista with a few tweaks.
Same ole story
That's ok. Vista is just Windows 3.1 with tweaks as far as I'm concerned.
hmmm.
Rightttt.... Apple is the only company allowed to release a new OS that is only a few tweaks.
And who is claiming windows 7 isn't more than a few tweaks. It certainly isn't touted as a complete overhaul.
I haven't read a negative review so far.
Windows 7 is just Vista
I've got Windows 7 beta installed right now in VMWare and it is nearly identical to Vista. Even the version number is Windows 6.1.7000. Not 7.x. The installer is the same as Vista, most of the screens are the same as vista and there are some options from Vista missing now that were actually improvements. Windows 7 is a joke. They just put a new theme on Vista and changed a few options. This is not what I'd call a new release. A partial service pack at best.
hey luck
let me help you with that:
http://weblog.infoworld.com/enterprisedesktop/archives/2008/10/windows7oops.html?source=NLC-DAILY&cgd=2008-10-29
there's a few others out there as well.
more osx than vista?
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/10/28/windows7vista_lessons/
Yechhh!
I've seen the beta and the UI graphics and colors are terrible. You'd think after 20 years MS would be able to find some graphic designers who could at least make the UI interesting. It's ugly. I couldn't stand to work with it all day. XP is much better although it's still Windows.
Re: is just vista
I've got Windows 7 beta installed right now in VMWare and it is nearly identical to Vista.
Well, if it was identical to vista, they could release it next week!
Even the version number is Windows 6.1.7000. Not 7.x.
What???? The version number wasn't changed to 7.0??? Well, then you know this is a joke release. Because we know of no company that would charge for an dot release of the OS!
Then again, major overhauls of the linux kernel tend to get a dot release (if not a maintenance release) number.
The installer is the same as Vista, most of the screens are the same as vista and there are some options from Vista missing now that were actually improvements.
The installer is the same? Wow. That is proof. Of course, if it was different, you'd be crowing how MS should have spent their programming resources on fixing the OS, not changing the installer.
And it is a beta. Why would you think they'd change the installer for the beta?
Windows 7 is a joke. They just put a new theme on Vista and changed a few options. This is not what I'd call a new release. A partial service pack at best.
It all comes down to semantics. And how much it costs.
Now, if MS was really smart, they'd charge very little for windows vista users to upgrade. A token gesture to all those "Well, it looks the same to me" and "I've never used it, but Vista sucks so bad!" people. But it won't help.
quality assurance
Windows 7 with Microsoft's new Runs-For-Sure guarantee!