Windows 7 RTM Announced - 08.06.09

[RobDog888]

http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/win...ows-7-rtm.aspx

:woot: Aug 6th!

ISV (Independent software vendor) and IHV (Independent hardware vendor) Partners will be able to download Windows 7 RTM from Microsoft Connect or MSDN on August 6th. There is already a lot of momentum from ISVs and IHVs in the ecosystem today for Windows 7 as Mike Nash blogged last week. If you are a partner who has been working on Windows 7 for a while, now is the time to complete your testing with final version of Windows 7. For partners that haven’t gotten started yet with Windows 7, now is the time to get involved. You can also visit www.readyset7.com to learn more about getting ready for Windows 7.

Microsoft Partner Program Gold/Certified Members will be able to download Windows 7 RTM in English through the Microsoft Partner Network (MPN) Portal on August 16th. By October 1st, the remaining languages will become available to download.

Microsoft Action Pack Subscribers will be about to download Windows 7 RTM in English starting August 23rd. By October 1st, the remaining languages will become available to download.

OEMs will receive Windows 7 RTM software images beginning approximately 2 days after we officially RTM, as a little time is required to release and distribute these images. This will allow them to begin preparing images for new PCs to ship with Windows 7 on them. We know our OEMs are excited for Windows 7 and we can’t wait to hand them the final RTM bits!

For Business Customers:

If you are a Volume License (VL) customer with an existing Software Assurance (SA) license you will be able to download Windows 7 RTM in English starting August 7th via the Volume License Service Center (VLSC). The rest of the languages for Windows 7 RTM should be available within a couple of weeks after that.

Volume License customers without a SA license will be able to purchase Windows 7 through Volume Licensing on September 1st as we announced last week at WPC09. Mark these dates on your calendar and start making your deployment plans!

For IT Professionals:

There are a few ways you can get Windows 7 RTM. IT Professionals with TechNet Subscriptions will be able to download Windows 7 RTM in English on August 6th and remaining languages by October 1st.

IT Professionals at companies with Volume Licensing see above on how you can get Windows 7 RTM.

We have quite a bit of resources for IT Professionals to use to become experts on Windows 7 and to aid in their deployments. Those resources can be found at the Springboard Series.

For Developers:

Developers with MSDN Subscriptions will be able to download Windows 7 RTM in English on August 6th and remaining languages by October 1st.

To help developers who are developing applications for Windows 7 or updating existing applications to take advantage of new Windows 7 features, check out the Windows 7 for Developers Blog. Also, be sure to check out the Windows 7 Developers Guide on MSDN. Oh and there are also some fantastic videos on Channel 9 too!

For Beta Testers & Enthusiasts:

A special thank you to our beta testers is needed for their time and effort in helping make Windows 7 a solid release. The special pre-order offer we did offering Windows 7 Home Premium and Windows 7 Professional at almost 50% discount was done with our beta testers in mind. And many of you jumped at the chance to take advantage of this deal – thank you!

I know there have been some rumors going around about a “family pack” for Windows 7. We have heard a lot of feedback from beta testers and enthusiasts over the last 3 years that we need a better solution for homes with multiple PCs. I’m happy to confirm that we will indeed be offering a family pack of Windows 7 Home Premium (in select markets) which will allow installation on up to 3 PCs. As I’ve said before, stay tuned to our blog for more information on this and any other potential offers.

Beta testers will not automatically receive a free copy of Windows 7. Many beta testers are already subscribers to TechNet; those of you who fit that description will be able to download Windows 7 RTM shortly after RTM happens for free as part of your subscription.

However, if you don’t have TechNet and are waiting for GA (to either purchase Windows 7 or wait for your pre-order to arrive) you can continue to use the RC. In fact, you can continue to use it until it expires on June 1st, 2010 (expiration actually starts March 1, 2010, this is when the reboots start).

While our special pre-order offer with the near 50% has ended, Windows 7 can still be pre-ordered today from the various online retailers (including the Microsoft Store).

We are also going to release an evaluation of Windows 7 Professional for IT Professionals via the Springboard Series shortly after RTM. Over 40% of beta testers are IT Professionals and this will allow them to quickly access the RTM code and plan for deployments.

For Consumers:

Windows 7 will be in retail stores and shipping on new PCs starting October 22nd. If you pre-ordered Windows 7, it should be delivered sometime around the October 22nd timeframe (depends on the retailer).

[tr333]

I've been testing the Win7 RC on a Motion F5 tablet for the past few months and it appears to have awsome tablet support built-in. No more tablet-specific version of windows!

[dkerry]

I was using Windows 7 RC1 in Virtual PC and I definitely think that it introduces some very interesting elements. The new UI elements (new Taskbar, Desktop Gadgets etc.) are an interesting thing to explore for development purposes. I personally enjoy working with the new API.

[Cander]

Windows 7 + VS 2010 = <3!!

[RobDog888]

I love the ribbon throughout windows apps now. Plus ability to develop ribbon for your own apps easier then Office ribbon

[DeanMc]

What is this ribbon you speak off!

[Nightwalker83]

What is this ribbon you speak off!

Yeah, Dog mentioned the ribbon last time as well but he did not give us an explanation as to what he was referring. I would have thought a bone was more to his liking!

[chris128]

August 6th? Seriously? Seems like a bit of a rush to me... but I guess they got so much hate for Vista they had to do something quickly..

[jmcilhinney]

What is this ribbon you speak off!

The Ribbon was the new UI replacement for menus and tool bars introduced in Office 2007. Win7 includes a Ribbon interface in standard apps like Paint and WordPad.

Hey DeanMc and Nightwalker83, who else is living in that cave with you?

I've been using Win7 RC on my laptop for some time and it's performed well with essentially no issues, although it has been running a disk check fairly often when I start up recently. I had Vista on that laptop previously and, while I have never had any specific issues with Vista, I've noticed a performance improvement with Win7. That could be attributed to the fact that I'm not running Glass while I was with Vista. Regardless, I like the OS and the RC seems to be stable so I would think the RTM should be.

[chris128]

Hey DeanMc and Nightwalker83, who else is living in that cave with you?

I assumed they were being sarcastic!

[jmcilhinney]

I assumed they were being sarcastic!

What is this sarcasm you speak of?

[chris128]

haha at least spell "of" wrong like DeanMc if you are going to copy him

On a slightly more related note: Do you guys like the ribbon? I mean I like it from a developer point of view, its the next generation of menu strips but from a user point of view I find it to be a bit of a pain in the ass... but I think that could possibly be because the main program to use it is Office and everyone is used to where things are in Office so its always going to be hard to stick a new menu system in that and have people like it. I just thought I would have got used to it by now but I still prefer the old menus..

[jmcilhinney]

haha at least spell "of" wrong like DeanMc if you are going to copy him

On a slightly more related note: Do you guys like the ribbon? I mean I like it from a developer point of view, its the next generation of menu strips but from a user point of view I find it to be a bit of a pain in the ass... but I think that could possibly be because the main program to use it is Office and everyone is used to where things are in Office so its always going to be hard to stick a new menu system in that and have people like it. I just thought I would have got used to it by now but I still prefer the old menus..

I think one of the main points of the Ribbon was not specifically to make things easier overall, but to make it easier to access more of the functionality Office provides. We've all heard of the 80/20 rule, where 80&#37; of people use only 20% of the available functionality, but I think it was probably more like 95/5 with Office. Microsoft wanted to make more of the functionality easily discoverable and available. I think pushing us out of our comfort zone, where we all know where the 5 or 6 features we normally use are located and we don't even look at anything else, was part of that.

The problem is, the menu and tool bar approach to software is so prevalent and has been for so long, it's hard to introduce a new paradigm. Even though Office is extremely widely used, there is still so much other software that doesn't use the Ribbon and may never use it, especially on non-Windows systems, that getting used to the new layout is more difficult. You've just got to look at the fact that, even with VS 2010, it appears that we'll be developing our Ribbon-enabled apps in a non-Ribbon-enabled IDE.

[Nightwalker83]

The Ribbon was the new UI replacement for menus and tool bars introduced in Office 2007. Win7 includes a Ribbon interface in standard apps like Paint and WordPad.

I've only used Office 2007 twice and it was only for about five minutes so I didn't notice the difference.

Hey DeanMc and Nightwalker83, who else is living in that cave with you?

Cool! We get to live in a cave?

[RobDog888]

At where this thread has gone!

11 more days til Christmas ... err I mean, Windows 7!

[jmcilhinney]

11 more days til Christmas ... err I mean, Windows 7!

I think I might wait until October 22 anyway, just to be fair.

Also, Rob, it might be that you start downloading on August 6 but it doesn't finish until August 8 or 9. I hope MS have installed a few thousand extra servers.

[Nightwalker83]

I think I might wait until October 22 anyway, just to be fair.

Also, Rob, it might be that you start downloading on August 6 but it doesn't finish until August 8 or 9. I hope MS have installed a few thousand extra servers.

I hope the downloads don't get to the 50&#37; or more mark then fail because the server has fallen over.

[RobDog888]

Its ok. I will kick my download off as soon as its posted and then let it run while I go to work. Install that night

[mendhak]

Pfft, novices. Windows Server 2008 R2 is the way to go. My old laptop supports it quite well - it's quite fast, which is always a pleasant surprise.

[Cander]

My new PC parts should all be in by the 6th. Perfect timing.

[chris128]

lol its not meant as a desktop OS though is it...you've probably got about 50 services on there running that you dont need :P

[MSFT_AlexT]

Hi everyone,It's nice to see so much excitement around Windows 7 RTM. I've been waiting a long time myself.@dkerry, I agree, Windows 7 definitely introduces some interesting elements and I'm curious to see them in the final version!@RobDog888 I think the Ribbon is a great addition and actually, the 80/20 rule makes a lot of sense. The ribbon makes it a lot easier for end users to access many features they weren't used to utilize.Who is getting the RTM on August 6th here?
Alex
Microsoft Windows Group

[mendhak]

lol its not meant as a desktop OS though is it...you've probably got about 50 services on there running that you dont need :P

Au contraire, my furry feline friend. Its concept is a minimal installation and you have to add on whatever you want. I even had to install Media Player! Awesomeness. I hope R2 comes out to MSDN at the same time.

[jmcilhinney]

Who is getting the RTM on August 6th here?
Alex
Microsoft Windows Group

Of course, Ill probably have to actually wait until August 7 because I'm GMT+10, so by the time it's released and I can download it it will be August 7 here. Surely it should be rolled out to us on this side of the Date Line first.

[Nightwalker83]

Of course, Ill probably have to actually wait until August 7 because I'm GMT+10, so by the time it's released and I can download it it will be August 7 here. Surely it should be rolled out to us on this side of the Date Line first.

Yeah, it seems like we Aussies get the bad end of the deal.

[chris128]

Au contraire, my furry feline friend. Its concept is a minimal installation and you have to add on whatever you want. I even had to install Media Player! Awesomeness. I hope R2 comes out to MSDN at the same time.

lol yes I know, I've installed it several times on servers at work but even so its still geared towards a servers workload rather than a desktop machine. Having said that, I do prefer using it over Vista as not so many features are hidden and reduced to make things easy for the IT illiterate end user.

@MSFT_AlexT
I dont think I will be getting it on release day as there are bound to be some problems and because it will be brand new there will be very little / no experience of these problems around on the internet to help solve them. I know this is supposedly the most reliable version of windows etc etc and I do believe it will be better than previous versions in that respect but I would just rather avoid the headaches and wait a few months for some of the initial bugs to be ironed out

[jmcilhinney]

I dont think I will be getting it on release day as there are bound to be some problems and because it will be brand new there will be very little / no experience of these problems around on the internet to help solve them. I know this is supposedly the most reliable version of windows etc etc and I do believe it will be better than previous versions in that respect but I would just rather avoid the headaches and wait a few months for some of the initial bugs to be ironed out

Not that you necessarily shouldn't be careful, especially if you don't really care that much about using the latest, but I will say that I have had no issues with the RC. I don't know whether the disk checks are related or not but, once the OS starts up I've had nary an issue.

[chris128]

Well thats certainly good to know but I think I will still give it at least a couple of months

[Fraps]

One thing related with W7 makes me little confused is that the system looks like MAC OS, and got couple of bad things from the apple. For example dock is always on top. MAC has the same "utility". Give me a brake...

[RobDog888]

Hi everyone,It's nice to see so much excitement around Windows 7 RTM. I've been waiting a long time myself.@dkerry, I agree, Windows 7 definitely introduces some interesting elements and I'm curious to see them in the final version!@RobDog888 I think the Ribbon is a great addition and actually, the 80/20 rule makes a lot of sense. The ribbon makes it a lot easier for end users to access many features they weren't used to utilize.Who is getting the RTM on August 6th here?
Alex
Microsoft Windows Group

Welcome to the Forums Alex

I'm hoping to be able to take the day off from work to get my system up and running with it on the 6th.

I have a new WD VelociRaptor drive that has been waiting for the RTM version for a long while now.

Windows 7 in '09 and Office 14 in '10. Great times acoming! :woot:

[jmcilhinney]

I have a new WD VelociRaptor drive that has been waiting for the RTM version for a long while now.

Aren't they cute? That itty-bitty drive in that big old heatsink.

Windows 7 in '09 and Office 14 in '10. Great times acoming! :woot:

Let's not forget VS 2010. Even if some aren't excited about the new IDE, the new Framework and language features are way cool!

[RobDog888]

Definately but Im going to be using Win7 for my production system and will run 2010 in a vm for now.

WPF 4 is fast becoming my new favorite, just need more free time to do everything I want.

[chris128]

WPF 4 is fast becoming my new favorite,

Woohoo, a believer

[Fraps]

In fact W7 is little faster ( lighter ) than VISTA but looks more treacly

[Nightwalker83]

I hope the built-in programs in Win7 are more useful than some that were in Vista! Take the defrag utility for one, the Vista version only appears to be front-end with no diagnostic function included.

[jmcilhinney]

I hope the built-in programs in Win7 are more useful than some that were in Vista! Take the defrag utility for one, the Vista version only appears to be front-end with no diagnostic function included.

I think it's funny that Microsoft are evil for including IE and WMP in Windows and are forced to make special versions without them, yet users are, quite reasonably, wishing that other utilities were better. If they were better, would Microsoft be forced to take them out? Also, do Apple have to provide a version of OSX without Safari, and iLife for that matter? I realise iLife is not part of the OS but surely it's anti-competitive to include iLife on new Macs if it's anti-competitive for MS to include IE on a new Windows install?

[chris128]

I hope the built-in programs in Win7 are more useful than some that were in Vista! Take the defrag utility for one, the Vista version only appears to be front-end with no diagnostic function included.

What kind of diagnostics do you want in a defrag utility :S The only difference in the XP one is the pretty graph it gives you

One thing I do despise about Vista that I think they have fixed in Windows 7 is the backup utility. You cant even select which directories you want to backup and you cant backup EXE files (amongst other things), nice one... bring back NTBackup!

[Nightwalker83]

One thing I do despise about Vista that I think they have fixed in Windows 7 is the backup utility. You cant even select which directories you want to backup and you cant backup EXE files (amongst other things), nice one... bring back NTBackup!

When was the last time you used the defrag utility in Vista? My point is you can't tell that the program is working. Despite the fact that it disables the "OK" button and displays the busy icon.

[chris128]

It says "defragmenting hard disks" or something, what more does it need to say to tell you that its working? I admit its not as good as the XP one dont get me wrong, as the XP one at least gives you a progress bar... but thats not what you said originally - you said diagnostics, which a progress bar and a pretty graph is not

[Cander]

I think it's funny that Microsoft are evil for including IE and WMP in Windows and are forced to make special versions without them, yet users are, quite reasonably, wishing that other utilities were better. If they were better, would Microsoft be forced to take them out? Also, do Apple have to provide a version of OSX without Safari, and iLife for that matter? I realise iLife is not part of the OS but surely it's anti-competitive to include iLife on new Macs if it's anti-competitive for MS to include IE on a new Windows install?

Because Bill Gates is a terrorist.

Seriously though Apple didn't abuse a monopoly and not allow PC makers to install competing software. Apple makes its own hardware and software. Apples (ahem) and Oranges. Not that I agree with it anyway as all the OEMs had to do was grow a pair of balls and stand up to MS and tell MS that they would not follow such restrictive guidelines. But the 2 situations were different.

On another note. My new PC's Mobo and CPU come in today. Last parts I need (video card and memory) I will order tomorrow and they should get in right around the 5th or 6th. Just in time for Windows 7.