Obtaining Windows 7 At An Early Date
The ready to ship version of windows 7 for IT professionals and software developers was released on August 6 2009 by Microsoft; that has raised a question as to when other consumers will be have a copy that can be downloaded , preinstalled on a new purchased PC or through shrink wrap. The window’s blog of Microsoft has stated that from August 7 2009 subscribers of MSDN and TechNet can have a release-to–manufacturing (RTM) copy of Windows 7 in English language. The other language versions will be available from October 1.
Volume License (VL) customers of Microsoft having Software Assurance license will have an option of downloading English language Windows 7 RTM from August 7 2009. It will take another few weeks for other language editions to reach VL customers. VL customers not having SA license will have to wait till September 1 2009 to have an RTM copy.
The official launch of Windows 7 is on October 22. If you are not one of these – software developer, IT professional or volume buyer, the question is how can you have a copy of Windows 7 before its official launch?
Microsoft Connect beta software website will allow those beta testers who were part of Technical Beta Program of Microsoft to have a free copy of Windows 7. For all the rest there are limited options to get Windows 7. Even if you order Windows 7 now you won’t be able to get it before October 22. If you are not ready to wait until October 22, then the pirated copy of Windows 7 RTM can be obtained from Internet, though this option is not recommended. In July the final code of Win 7 was leaked according to recent reports.
Microsoft has placed Release Candidate (RC) for free test drives of the newest version of Windows, Windows 7. This is not a final version but is very close to the final version. If you are interested in RC download then you better hurry since August 20 is the last date for RC download. Since the test drives are to work up to June 2010 though from March 1 2010, shut down after every two hours will start. That’s a plenty of time to decide for Windows 7 Upgrade.