Windows 7’s October 22 debut will really be July

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Wednesday, 03 June 2009 10:56

Opinion and Analysis

No more is Microsoft pretending that Windows 7 will arrive in 2010, instead confirming to the media that October 22 is the true release date, but MSDN, TechNet and BitTorrent members will get it much earlier, in late July or early August!

Ah, Windows 7. It’s the OS that sends shivers into the heart of Linux lovers, constantly having their wishes of global Linux domination dashed by the mere fact Linux usage pales into near insignificance compared to usage of Windows XP and Vista.

Yes, yes, citizens of Planet Linux Loonosphere will be gurgling pure rage, but for most that’s how they are at all times anyway, so Windows 7’s upcoming October 22 launch (now officially confirmed at the Windows Team Blog) might actually give them some time to breathe, get some oxygen to those starved brain cells, and clear their throats to begin the rage anew.

Microsoft is undoubtedly worried that the truth of free and open source software will one day come to bite them in the backside, so to put that day off as far into the future, Microsoft was resolved to do one thing: damn well get Windows 7 out on time.

That also included not repeating Microsoft’s boneheaded decision of releasing Windows Vista in the month of January (2007), precisely when no-one is thinking of spending because everyone is still paying off horrendous credit card bills.

So, the news of an early Q4 launch, something I and plenty of others predicted would have to happen, is good news for the computer industry at large.

Of course, there is some bad news. Windows 7 might be smaller than Vista, but is still gigabytes larger than XP, and if the speed of the RC code is anything to go by, Windows 7 is not the netbook saviour Microsoft is making it out to be.

Perhaps the speed issue will change on the final Windows 7 RTM code, but that we are yet to see.

The word that has come that Microsoft is thinking of raising Windows 7 prices defies logic and belief, but as Linux loonospheroids rightly point out, much of what Microsoft does defies logic and belief anyway, so what’s new?

Still, Microsoft choosing to raise prices in what politicians constantly remind us is the “greatest recession of the last 75 years” just seems like suicide. Perhaps Microsoft is really doing Linux fans a big favour – or perhaps Microsoft is yet again pretending it will do one thing (higher prices) but then come out with cheaper prices to surprise us all.

Bill Veghte, a Senior Microsoft VP, has stated a few interesting facts that make us wonder.

No, he didn’t confirm pricing, something that is rumoured to be announced within the next two weeks, and something that Dell at least says is going to be higher than expected, but he did say that Microsoft was considering affordable upgrades for existing Vista users.

He did of course confirm an October 22 launch date for Win 7, and said that the final version would come out in late July or perhaps early August.

That means MSDN and TechNet members will theoretically be able to run the final Windows 7 code then, as will naughty law-breaking BitTorrent users, long before members of the public will be able to buy it in stores and pre-loaded onto PCs.

So, October 22 is the date for the general public, but plenty of people (and likely even a few Linux loons) will be running the final Windows 7 code long before then!