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Windows 7 RTM Is Released to MSDN

Developers with an MSDN subscription can download the Windows 7 RTM in English today.

When I checked MSDN, a little before noon East Coast time, the Windows 7 release candidate was still the latest download. I'm guessing that the Windows 7 RTM will be made available later today.

Brandon LeBlanc of the Windows Team offered guidance on when developers and everyone else could expect to have access to the Windows 7 RTM in his Windows Team Blog post on July 21.

"Developers with MSDN Subscriptions will be able to download Windows 7 RTM in English on August 6th and remaining languages by October 1st."

LeBlanc outlines availability for business customers with various licenses, Microsoft partners and OEMs, IT professionals -- they can also get it today via TechNet -- beta testers and consumers.

The Windows XP Mode Release Candidate was also made available earlier this week. According to LeBlanc, this XP virtualization for Windows 7 is targeted at small and medium-sized businesses that have XP apps that can't be made compatible with the new operating system. The Windows XP Mode RC, which requires Windows Virtual PC, works with the Windows 7 RTM and the Windows 7 RC Professional, Ultimate and Enterprise editions. The Windows 7 RC expires on March 1, 2010.

Windows 7 is receiving accolades from many developers who have tested it. App compatibility with Windows 7 is a must for every company that provides software to their customers.

The hiccup will be getting Windows 7 onto desktops. As Denise Richards likes to say, it's complicated. The migration path for anyone using XP is going to be painful. Outside of purchasing new hardware -- unlikely for many folks in this climate -- or turning your systems over to techies who feel comfortable wiping out hard drives for clean installs -- yikes! -- Windows 7 for many users may have to wait.

What's the migration path from where you sit? Express your views below or drop me a line at krichards@reddevnews.com.

Posted by Kathleen Richards on 08/06/2009 at 1:28 PM

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Reader Comments:

Thu, Aug 13, 2009

I have been using the RC for some time now and even that is really good (stable). Don't worry too much about the hardware upgrades as the machine I am running on hated Vista but runs smoothly with 7.

Tue, Aug 11, 2009

I've been developing on Win 7 now for several months and I have found it to be one of the most stable versions of Windows I've ever used. Not to mention resource usage has been greatly reduced and improved. It is almost bearable now.

Fri, Aug 7, 2009

Windows 7 ... Vista version 2. Why shoudl I have to buy new hardware, wipe everything on my harddrive just to install a new OS. Keep XP active. There are MILLIONS of XP users out there. Fix it right and it will be around for a long time. If you do not want to do that then at least take the time to make the up grade path to the new OS less tramatic. It would not hurt you to strip the code all the way back to the very begining kernel and rewrite it so that it is not buggy. Yes this takes time. You can forget me downloading WIN 7 any time soon. Several good alternatives out there in the works, free OS's and not Linux based.