Microsoft today confirmed it will release Windows 7 before the end of 2009, making it possible for PC makers to bundle the OS with their latest PC and notebook offerings.
"We're going for holiday and we're tracking very, very well for it," Microsoft Windows Business senior VP Bill Veghte said during a Microsoft event currently underway in Los Angeles, California.
Microsoft previously didn't say when it planned to release Windows 7, but a release before the holiday season makes the most sense. The company is desperate to get consumers to forget about Windows Vista, and a pre-holiday release would allow the company to begin a marketing campaign for its latest OS.
Windows 7 has received an extremely high level of hype, and it'd be a mistake, unless something catastrophic happens, if Microsoft doesn't have the OS ready for the holidays, several analysts said.
Learning from a mistake that caused a bit of chaos with Vista, Microsoft offered the Windows 7 ecosystem to both software and hardware manufacturers early, allowing them to better prepare for the public launch of the OS. Microsoft predicts 75 percent of all Windows 7 installations will be OEM, and most of those will be 64-bit installations.
Furthermore, Windows Server 2008 R2 should also be released at a similar time as Windows 7, with simultaneous launches seen as an important part of Microsoft's product launch strategy in the past.
The Windows 7 Release Candidate has been available since last week, and I've been playing around with several different features. Similar to other testers, I believe having Windows 7 based off of Vista -- which has had time to mature -- it's obvious Microsoft has made numerous configurations and hopes consumers are more willing to use this OS.
Have you tried out the Windows 7 RC? If so, what do you think of it?
