Digital Home Thoughts: Windows 7 On Track for Holiday Season Release

"Our approach to the development of Windows 7, as we've highlighted in the past, has been tied to people like you around the world contributing in real-time by testing our key Windows 7 milestones - from the Pre-Beta we handed out to PDC attendees last year, to the Windows 7 Beta, and now the Windows 7 RC which we recently released for everyone to try...If the telemetry we receive from the Windows 7 RC meets our expectations in terms of quality, then we expect to hit RTM in 3 months or so. Again, check out Steven's blog post on this process. If this happens, it looks like we'll be able to have Windows 7 done in time for the holidays. I want to underscore that our top priority remains QUALITY. This guidance does not alter that principle."

I recall someone being quite dismissive of my opinion that Windows 7 wouldn't be released until holiday 2009 - he was certain it would be out for back-to-school season - but it looks like my instincts were right. Microsoft's focus on quality is higher with Windows 7 than any previous version of Windows. After the rocky start that Windows Vista had in the market, Microsoft doesn't want to see this repeated with Windows 7. From what I've seen, Windows 7 is shaping up to be a the best version of Windows yet and I'm looking forward to seeing it on some sweet new hardware later this year!