Windows 7 Will be in Stores on October 22, 2009

Microsoft announced yesterday that Windows 7 will be released to public on October 22, 2009. Windows Server 2008 R2 is expected to be broadly available at the same time.

What I find interesting is that Microsoft announces this to the world but if you go to Microsoft’s Web site there is no mention of this on it’s homepage. Looks like nobody told the folks who manage Windows 7 Web site either. Guys! this is big, exciting news. Cheer up!! If Microsoft’s Windows Team can blog about it and you can issue a press release, why not post this news somewhere on the site in an obvious location, like the home page? Okay, I am sure Microsoft has a reason for not posting this news on their home page or even on Windows 7 Web site but I am positive that the rest of the world, well most of it anyway, is thrilled to hear this good news.

I can’t wait to finally upgrade my production servers to Windows Server 2008 R2. It seems like in Windows 7 Microsoft finally has a client operating system that even the critics are liking. When was the last time that happened? I have been running the beta version of Windows 7 on my computers for some time and I like what I’ve seen so far.

Here’s what today’s press release says “Today during a keynote address at Computex 2009 in Taipei, Microsoft’s OEM Division Corporate Vice President Steve Guggenheimer revealed that the company is confident with the progress made with Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2, and that as a result, Microsoft will deliver Release to Manufacturing (RTM) code to partners in the second half of July. Windows 7 will become generally available on Oct. 22, 2009, and Windows Server 2008 R2 will be broadly available at the same time.”

So what I gather from this carefully crafted press release is that, unlike Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2 will NOT be available to public on 10/22/09. It will be broadly available, rather than generally available……whatever that means.