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Windows 7 RTM coming next week

Published on 6th July 2009 by Tim Smalley

Microsoft will release Windows 7 to manufacturing next week if several independent reports are to be believed.

Microsoft will release the final build of Windows 7 to manufacturing next week if several independent reports are to be believed.

According to GeekSmack, Wzor and Neowin, Microsoft insiders have said that the RTM version of Microsoft's latest operating system will arrive on 13th July.

This date coincides with the start of Microsoft's Worldwide Partner Conference, held in New Orleans, and would be a fitting event to announce the good news.

Typically, once Microsoft drops the RTM build, it's made available on MSDN, TechNet and a number of other partner connections. This enables developers and hardware vendors to ensure that hardware-related bugs are ironed out of device drivers.

It's also generally considered to be the final build ahead of General Availability, which is scheduled for 22nd October, providing there aren't any show-stopper bugs found in the interim.

Discuss in the forums.

17 Comments

Discuss in the forums Reply

Paradigm Shifter 6th July 2009, 14:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by

Sweet. Good news.

Windows 7 appears to be fairing a lot better than Vista (or even XP) did... most stuff seems to be going smoothly. Of course, that might be because it's not another huge driver architecture shift so the manufacturers don't really have any excuses for troublesome drivers the way they did with Vista. Well, that and the fact that Windows 7, even on newer hardware, seems to have just about every necessary driver in it. :)

DarkLord7854 6th July 2009, 15:05

I'm pretty sure the RTM build has been on the nets for a little while now, but an official release would be nice

perplekks45 6th July 2009, 15:24

Might actually "upgrade" the RC on my laptop to RTM. So far I'm more than impressed with 7. ;)

plagio 6th July 2009, 16:05

I hate to say it, but I have been using win7 on my laptop for some time now and I haven't found anything wrong with it !

christoefar 6th July 2009, 17:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by perplekks45
Might actually "upgrade" the RC on my laptop to RTM. So far I'm more than impressed with 7. ;)

I don't think your RC Key will work on the RTM build.

Hamish 6th July 2009, 17:05

Quote:

Originally Posted by DarkLord7854
I'm pretty sure the RTM build has been on the nets for a little while now, but an official release would be nice

its not, the latest leaked release is 7264, its like an RTM RC if you see what i mean
its an RTM release in that it uses retail keys and wont accept the RC/beta keys but its not the actual final RTM build

earlydoors 6th July 2009, 17:18

if i want to upgrade my release client, will i have to format my computer?

i know this is a noob q. forgive me!

sear 6th July 2009, 17:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by earlydoors
if i want to upgrade my release client, will i have to format my computer?

i know this is a noob q. forgive me!

Yes, the beta and release candidate versions don't upgrade, so you need to wipe your hard drive when you install the retail or even RTM versions. That's why I haven't bothered with it yet.

leslie 6th July 2009, 20:04

This is the first Windows I was actually impressed with from the start. Others you could see promise, but there was too many bugs or hardware issues (not fast enough, poor driver support, etc...).

Win7 seems to be off to a great start, I just wish they had retired 32bit with XP (yes, I said it! :) ).

DarkLord7854 6th July 2009, 20:07

Quote:

Originally Posted by leslie
I just wish they had retired 32bit with XP (yes, I said it! :) ).

Agreed.

Here's hoping they do it for the next version.

TTmodder 6th July 2009, 20:36

I've been using windows 7 RC for a week now, because somehow my windows vista Kernel (or whatever the core of windows is called) is ****ed up big time.
And i can't just throw in the windows disk and press repair under setup, like you could with XP.

Mister_Tad 6th July 2009, 20:45

Good stuff. Wasn't expecting the RTM so soon. I'll definitely be upgrading as soon as its available, roll on next week.

Hope the RC->Final upgrade is possible by just editing one of the setup files like the Beta->RC was

perplekks45 6th July 2009, 21:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mister_Tad
Hope the RC->Final upgrade is possible by just editing one of the setup files like the Beta->RC was

And hardly anybody knew that so they were bitching about it being impossible... :(

Quote:

Originally Posted by OWNED66
nuff said

Isn't "like pie" something that replaces swearing? I'm too lazy to check, but if so I hope someone will show you the door for a day or two. If not then I just don't understand what you're trying to say. :|

leslie 6th July 2009, 21:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by DarkLord7854
Agreed.

Here's hoping they do it for the next version.

Rumor is that this will be the last 32bit.

Mister_Tad 6th July 2009, 23:26

2008 Server R2 has already moved over to 64 bit only, can't imagine the desktop platform is too far behind.

eek 7th July 2009, 09:13

Nice

My beta expired this month and the 2 hour shut downs make it impossible to do anything fun (namely playing poker).
I have got the RC downloaded to install but if the RTM is going to be on MSDN next week then I may aswell save myself the hassle of formatting et al until then :)

perplekks45 7th July 2009, 09:19

You don't have to format to go from Beta to RC. Just google a bit around and you'll find that all you have to do is edit one text file. ;)