Windows 7 Released to Manufacturing

[deanhanson]

It might feel a little too "inside baseball" to excite general consumers, but the moment for which potential Windows 7 customers, tech aficionados, and financial analysts have been waiting impatiently has finally arrived.

Steven Sinofsky, president of Microsoft's (NASDAQ: MSFT) Windows Division, announced in a blog post that Windows 7 has reached its Release to Manufacturing (RTM) milestone.

"Today marks an important milestone in the Windows 7 project. The Windows 7 team is proud to share with you that a short while ago we have started to release Windows 7 to PC OEM and manufacturing partners," he wrote in a blog post.

The news means that Microsoft has signed off on build 7600.16385 of the upcoming and closely watched OS, setting the stage for it to begin arriving in the hands of partners within days.
Many customers will undoubtedly go "Huh?" when they hear that news, but they'll feel the impact of today's news in a few short months, when Windows 7 begins appearing on store shelves and installed on new PCs on Oct. 22 -- a milestone known as "General Availability" or GA.

RTM is the point at which all the Microsoft executives who have responsibility for Windows 7 sign off on the final code. From there, PC vendors and retail outlets can begin their own processes of locking down plans for delivering Windows 7 in preparation for its release date.

"The RTM code will be delivered to our partners within the next few days who will then start preparing to deliver some amazing new products timed to hit at GA of Windows 7," Microsoft spokesman Brandon LeBlanc said in a blog post.

In an earlier post on Tuesday, LeBlanc described who will receive the RTM version prior to the October launch. PC OEMs will begin receiving the so-called "gold" code within the next two or three days, for example.
To some users who have Microsoft TechNet or MSDN subscriptions, RTM also means they will be able to download the final gold code as early as two weeks from now -- on August 6. Volume Licensees with Software Assurance can begin downloading the RTM code on August 7.

For financial analysts, the phrase RTM has a solid ring to it -- the "Ka-ching" of cash bound for Microsoft's coffers. That's the sign that a new revenue cycle has begun right at the beginning of Microsoft's 2010 fiscal year, which started July 1.

[r3g]

Hi,

I am one of those techie types with access to the MSDN Windows 7 RTM code.

I installed Windows 7 Ultimate yesterday on my UK spec HP2133 in about 40 mins.

The install was a breeze. The video resolution was fixed at 800 x 600 until I installed the Vista driver from the HP site, but once done I was back in 1280 x 768 in no time.

Virtually everything works out of the box including wired and wireless networking, bluetooth, web cam, sound, etc.

The only thing I haven't tried yet is the SD card reader, which I hear has caused some issue on earlier pre-production releases. I'll do this as soon as I can find an SD card to put in it!

Aero doesn't work, though I believe there's a registry hack for it to get it working. I'm not particularly bothered about that though.

If you just want a functional up to date OS that seems quit zippy on your little netbook, then go for the Win 7 Home Basic version (all versions are the same, but the license key disables/enables extra features). Don't go for the Starter edition. This is the same as Home Basic, but you are limited to only 3 running applications at a time.

So far so good. I'll use it for a week or so and then decide whether or not to keep it or wipe it.

Regards,

Richard.

[cyberghoser1]

@reg, aero works awesome on the hp 2133, i have win7 ultimate RTM without any reg hack needed, the via 9 chrome supports wddm and sd card reader works out of the box too

[plugwash]

Don't go for the Starter edition. This is the same as Home Basic, but you are limited to only 3 running applications at a time.
.

I thought they decided to drop that limitation.