Subscribe by EmailMicrosoft Announces Official Consumer Launch of Windows 7
June 3, 2009 by Jimmy Rogers | 3 commentsBy Jimmy Rogers (@me)
Contributing Writer, [GAS]
Yesterday, Microsoft tweeted, and for once, the internet listened. That’s because their tweet went something like this:
“Here it is, the *official word* on Windows 7 general availability: In stores starting October 22nd! Details at http://bit.ly/ccSyd ^MS”
That’s right, after much speculation and an initial launch date of January 2010, the guys in Redmond have finally made it official and chosen October 22nd, 2009.
This is very good timing for Microsoft, in my opinion. While they won’t quite make the “back to school” season (much to my chagrin), they will have had the OS out for several months by the time the holiday season rolls around. This is important for two reasons:
- The OS will be available pre-installed on new hardware. Vista attempted to skate through on the “Vista Ready” program and suffered the consequences.
- The few months of mass usage will give Microsoft the time to squeeze out the major bugs and get a head start on the first service pack.
It looks like those who need to buy a machine sooner than October will have the ability to participate in the Windows 7 Upgrade Option Program, which, as the name suggests, allows you to upgrade to 7 once it’s launched. No details were announced though.
[via Engadget]
- Microsoft wants you to host a Windows 7 launch party
- Can Your Machine Run Windows 7?
- Microsoft Windows “about to collapse”?
- Free disk cloning for Windows OS: Microsoft AIK and ImageX
This is fantastic news for those of us who want to run Microsoft’s latest OS, but maybe don’t have the iron to run Vista. I still use XP on one of my machines, and would really like to upgrade. It’s a solid AMD-based system with 2GB of memory, but I’m afraid that it won’t handle all that Vista throws at it. I’m hoping that the system requirements for Windows 7 fit that machine a little better.
I’m not one of those who thinks that Vista is a bad operating system. I actually really enjoy using my Vista-based laptop. I am definately looking forward to what Windows 7 has to offer.
I’m pretty sure the spec requirements for 7 are the same or higher…though I’m not totally sure of that.
I too am excited…though not really sure what the upgrade experience from Vista to 7 is going to be like…
I think the requirement are exactly the same Jimmy.. yep, just checked, they are…