Microsoft Confirms Windows 7 Holiday Release

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Windows 7 will be here this year. Oh yeah.

Up until today, Microsoft’s always said that Windows 7 would be a 2010 product. Of course, those who have been testing the beta and now the release candidate have long felt that the operating system is closer to prime time than Microsoft was letting on.

Today at Tech•Ed North America 2009, Microsoft announced that the company is anticipating that Windows 7 will be available to customers in time for the holiday shopping season.

“With early RC testing and extensive partner feedback we’ve received, Windows 7 is tracking well for holiday availability,” said Bill Veghte, senior vice president of the Windows Business Unit at Microsoft.

Microsoft also revealed that Windows Server 2008 R2 Release Candidate (RC) is available today with the final product releasing to market in the same timeframe as Windows 7.

This confirmation from Microsoft finally puts to rest the constant rumblings that Windows 7 is ahead of schedule. OEMs will also be pleased that the shiny new Windows will be out in time for holiday season, giving shoppers an extra reason to purchase a new PC.

Of course, now the Windows 7 release speculation will move to nailing down a specific release date. Earlier this month we heard from two different Acer executives who gave a confident date of October 23 for Windows 7 – which would be just in time to catch all the holiday sales.

Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam served as Tom's Hardware News Director during 2008-2014. He entered tech media in the late 90s and fondly remembers the days when an overclocked Celeron 300A and Voodoo2 SLI comprised a gaming rig with the ultimate street cred.
26 Comments Comment from the forums
  • cryogenic
    I hope that DirectX 11 cards will also be available by then, else I don't feel that compelled to upgrade ...
    Reply
  • dman3k
    I find it strange and unnerving that M$ has a product that may sell itself. It's not a marketing ploy, Windows 7 may deserve this hype and enthusiasm - unlike anything from that fruit company...

    Reply
  • cryogenic
    CryogenicI hope that DirectX 11 cards will also be available by then, else I don't feel that compelled to upgrade ...
    I meant upgrade my PC, i'll definitely pick a copy of Win 7 when it ships.
    Reply
  • tester3000
    It was almost 100% that it was coming this year. I'm just look at the RC,, it's practically done.
    Reply
  • hellwig
    Back on schedule for MS it seems. They had Win95 in '96, Win98, ME & 2000 in '00, and XP in '01. Took 5+ years for Vista, but now 3 years later we have 7. Unfortunately, we still don't have all the wonderful things we heard were going into the original Longhorn (now Vista).

    I might upgrade my XP machine to 7, but if I had already installed Vista, it might be a hard sale. Anyone planning to move from Vista to 7 (and I mean by purchasing a legitamate copy)?
    Reply
  • the_one111
    dman3kI find it strange and unnerving that M$ has a product that may sell itself. It's not a marketing ploy, Windows 7 may deserve this hype and enthusiasm - unlike anything from that fruit company.........Yet the company made it.

    Who is the fruit again?

    At least they don't totally outright LIE TO YOUR FACE like Apple.
    Reply
  • tpi2007
    Notice a particular expression in the sentence: "“With early RC testing and extensive partner feedback we’ve received, Windows 7 is tracking well for holiday availability"

    This can mean two things: It will be available by Christmas time - what most people are saying, OR, by summer time. In my humble opinion, we could very well be looking at a late August release date.

    Let's see, we are in May, and we already have the Release Candidate. If the 23rd of October date is correct it means that it will be more than five months before we see it. They needed four months to put out the RC after the already stable, high quality Beta, why should it take that long for it to go gold ? The end of August would mean more or less the same time it took them to go from Beta to RC.

    They have everybody in the bandwagon. This time Nvidia isn't sleeping nor is ATI, and like they say, they have a high rate of drivers which means compatibility is already very high.

    Why am I thinking August ? Well, consider this: Windows 7 is probably going to be a major success and is going to be a hallmark.. the last consumer operating system from Microsft to be 32-bit, even more successful than the first... Windows 95, released on the 24th August 1995. Makes some historical sense doesn't it ? And it's a Monday this year.
    Reply
  • antilycus
    everyone do yourself a favor and WAIT FOR SP1 if you want ot pick it up
    Reply
  • Tedders
    Does anybody know the timeline for DX11 and cards that will be DX11 compliant? I am wanting to build a new rig when W7 comes out, but I will hold off on the purchase of a good video card if DX11 will be out around then.
    Reply
  • cliffro
    I'm in no hurry, I currently run Vista 64bit Ultimate. I've tried a couple of the betas and I liked them, but not enough to just jump as soon as its released. I'll wait a bit and see how things play out. Also with DX11 coming to Vista as well, so there is even less reasons to rush.
    Reply