Microsoft has finalised the Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 code and released it to manufacturing.
The announcement, made on Wednesday, marks the last engineering stage for both products before their scheduled release to the public on 22 October. Microsoft has spent nine months working on Windows 7 and the Windows Server update since demonstrating them at its Professional Developer Conference last year.
There is very little difference between the RTM (released it to manufacturing) versions and the release candidates that have been widely available since May, according to Microsoft executives who took part in a conference call about the announcement.
"Frankly, we didn't anticipate any major changes, and that's proven to be true", said Rich Reynolds, general manager for Windows commercial marketing. "The code is ready for the masses".
Microsoft's aim for testers has been to "treat the beta like a RC [release candidate], treat the RC like a final product", said Mike Nash, who heads up Windows platform strategy at the company.
Both Samsung and Norway's Statoil Hydro are planning early deployments with RTM code: Samsung because of its improved security, and Statoil Hydro because of its improved management tools, according to Microsoft.
Dell is offering consultancy services to help businesses migrate to Windows 7, and is expecting good take-up, according to director of services James Ginger. Ginger said he expects Dell will have plenty of work from businesses moving from XP to Windows 7, describing it as a "skipped generation upgrade".
While Microsoft expects the virtual XP machine bundled with the business versions of Windows 7 to help with this task, Ginger said a "rip-and-replace" approach would save time and reduce deployment times. He also emphasised that planning will be important, especially around application compatibility, where businesses will need to see "what is compatible, what isn't, and then consider how to remediate".
Microsoft UK's John Curran talked about just how much work — and data — had gone into the beta programme. "In our testing process, we had 1.36 million hours of automated testing and over 400 million user sessions to inform us, from over 10 million people in the customer experience improvement programme," said Curran, who heads up Windows client in the UK.
In a public blog post, Microsoft's Windows team blogger Brandon LeBlanc set out the schedule for actual availability of the Windows code, with various milestones between now and general availability on 22 October.
The key date for most IT professionals is 7 August, when businesses with Software Assurance contracts will be able to download and start testing Windows 7, and possibly begin deployments. Volume Licensing customers will get access from 1 September, although trial versions will be available sooner from Microsoft's Springboard online training and education site.
