Windows 7 to launch October 22

[Dominus Atheos]

CNET

Microsoft confirmed on Tuesday that it is planning for Windows 7 to hit retail shelves and start showing up on new PCs on October 22.

To reach that milestone, Microsoft plans to wrap up development of the operating system by the middle or end of next month, Senior Vice President Bill Veghte said in an interview.

"The feedback from the release candidate has been good," Veghte said.

Microsoft made the near-final release candidate version available last month. Shortly after its release, Microsoft finally confirmed that it was aiming Windows 7 for a holiday 2009 release, something that was widely anticipated, but not confirmed by those in Redmond.

In an interview, Phil McKinney, chief technology officer of Hewlett-Packard's computer unit, said that he feels good about Microsoft's launch date.

"We're locked and loaded for the launch," McKinney said. "The quality of code is just absolutely stellar."

The software maker also confirmed, without giving details, that it plans to offer some sort of "technology guarantee" giving those who buy Vista machines close to the Windows 7 launch a free or discounted copy of the new operating system. As with past similar programs, details on pricing will be up to individual computer makers, although Microsoft did say the upgrade program will apply to Vista Home Premium and higher-priced editions (meaning not Windows Vista Basic).

The tech guarantee program is not beginning immediately, but Microsoft did raise the possibility it will offer some sort of lower-cost upgrade to those who are already using Windows Vista.

I've gotten a lot of e-mails suggesting Microsoft do something along those lines, but its comments this week were the first time I had heard it acknowledge that it was considering such a move.

As for the technology guarantee program, it likely means that Microsoft will do some deferring of Vista-related revenue, though Microsoft again did not spell out details.

"Depending on when we do it there will be the associated accounting for it," Veghte said.

Microsoft has said that Windows 7 will come in five different editions in most markets--Starter, Home Premium, Professional, Enterprise and Ultimate. A "Windows 7 Basic" will also be sold in emerging markets, Microsoft said.

The software maker has yet to announce pricing for the product.

[Mr Bean]

Looks next March is a good time to get a new laptop following the six month delay Microsoft delay rule.

[Stark]

Win7 seems to have had a much better testing process than previous MS OS's. I'm interested to see how the launch process goes, partiuclarly if it immediately collapses into broken or missing features like XP.

[Mr Bean]

Win7 seems to have had a much better testing process than previous MS OS's. I'm interested to see how the launch process goes, partiuclarly if it immediately collapses into broken or missing features like XP.

Which is why the six month rule. Six months is not enough time for MS to fix all the issues.
What six months does is let you know what is broken after rigorous testing by a few million people with axes to grind on message boards. Does this program run or that program run? Google it in March and you should have a definitive answer one way or another. I expect XP compatibility mode be either brilliant or mostly useless and after testing Windows 7 for several weeks now I can't tell you either way.

[The Grim Squeaker]

Hmm, I'll break the 6 month rule happily (I've always had good luck drivers wise in that regard), but I hope the upgrade program for Vista home premium has a free upgrade, I'll want a laptop with Windows 7 since my uni starts in late October.
Bloody last minute timing

[phongn]

Looks next March is a good time to get a new laptop following the six month delay Microsoft delay rule.

I tend to run Microsoft OSes before their retail availability

[General Zod]

Looks next March is a good time to get a new laptop following the six month delay Microsoft delay rule.

I tend to run Microsoft OSes before their retail availability

That's been easy enough to do since they started doing this whole public beta/RC thing with Win 7. Though it really doesn't feel like its been very long since Vista came out.

[JointStrikeFighter]

Probably because it took like 10 years for Vista to come out after XP.

[phongn]

That's been easy enough to do since they started doing this whole public beta/RC thing with Win 7. Though it really doesn't feel like its been very long since Vista came out.

I meant release, not beta/RC

[Marcus Aurelius]

Probably because it took like 10 years for Vista to come out after XP.

That's true in principle, although it did not take 10 years, only 5.25 years (less for business use). Before that there was only about 1.5 years between 2k and XP. On the other hand there was nearly four years between NT 4.0 and 2000, so longer gaps were not unheard of even before Vista.

It all even makes sense, since Windows 2000 was version 5.0, but XP was just a minor upgrade to 5.1 and as such it had relatively few major changes apart from the default UI theme. I used Windows 2000 happily until 2006 and there was really very little reason to upgrade to XP unless you wanted to play games, which I didn't do with my PC at the time. 2000 SP4 was (and still is) every bit as stable as XP SP2 or SP3, and until Vista was launched most productivity applications were still tested on 2k as well.

[Bounty]

Having used the RC, I'm really looking forward to this release. 7 Is a great OS, one of the most pleasant Microsoft operating systems I've ever used, and it's surprisingly efficient; on my 2002-vintage laptop it actually ran better than XP. That's without the eye candy, of course, but even the basic look is easy on the eyes.