.
The buzz has become official now - "Windows 7 has reached the RTM stage".
RTM stands for release to manufacturing which literally means Windows 7 is now ready to be burnt to digital media like DVD. This is a very key milestone for Microsoft and a lot many Windows 7 testers like me who were curious since a long time to get our hands on the FINAL. From Microsoft's point-of-view the transition of Windows 7 from BETA to RC(Release Candidate) and then to RTM stage has been the best so far since this is the very first time that Microsoft has made public the BETA and RC offering. Previously, in case of Windows XP and Windows Vista the BETA was only made available to OEM's, vendors and volume licensing partners. The BETA then had a very short duration of 6 months for testing purposes. But that was the story then.
What's really worth an applause now was that Microsoft released an RC(Release Candidate) version of Windows 7 five months after BETA. This RC version is a kind of pre-final and post-BETA version of Windows 7 with the bugs fixed and other advancements made over BETA. This RC gamble was seen as a brave strategy by many bloggers and industry insiders since Microsoft got lacs of testers doing it's part of the job and that is - Testing Windows 7 and providing valuable feedback on it. Obviously, testers including me were delighted to get our hands on Windows 7 and become proficient with it before it's release but the developers too were overjoyed to get their hands on it so that their Apps. can flourish on them. The developers of some of the famous applications like Notepad++, VirtualBox, Pidgin IM etc have already acted promptly to get their Apps. compatible with Windows 7. So if you're a developer then now's the time to get your App. running on Windows 7 as well.
You can download the RC version of Windows 7 here (Available till 20th August, 2009).
Some more milestones to keep in mind for our readers:
The buzz has become official now - "Windows 7 has reached the RTM stage".
RTM stands for release to manufacturing which literally means Windows 7 is now ready to be burnt to digital media like DVD. This is a very key milestone for Microsoft and a lot many Windows 7 testers like me who were curious since a long time to get our hands on the FINAL. From Microsoft's point-of-view the transition of Windows 7 from BETA to RC(Release Candidate) and then to RTM stage has been the best so far since this is the very first time that Microsoft has made public the BETA and RC offering. Previously, in case of Windows XP and Windows Vista the BETA was only made available to OEM's, vendors and volume licensing partners. The BETA then had a very short duration of 6 months for testing purposes. But that was the story then.
What's really worth an applause now was that Microsoft released an RC(Release Candidate) version of Windows 7 five months after BETA. This RC version is a kind of pre-final and post-BETA version of Windows 7 with the bugs fixed and other advancements made over BETA. This RC gamble was seen as a brave strategy by many bloggers and industry insiders since Microsoft got lacs of testers doing it's part of the job and that is - Testing Windows 7 and providing valuable feedback on it. Obviously, testers including me were delighted to get our hands on Windows 7 and become proficient with it before it's release but the developers too were overjoyed to get their hands on it so that their Apps. can flourish on them. The developers of some of the famous applications like Notepad++, VirtualBox, Pidgin IM etc have already acted promptly to get their Apps. compatible with Windows 7. So if you're a developer then now's the time to get your App. running on Windows 7 as well.
You can download the RC version of Windows 7 here (Available till 20th August, 2009).
Some more milestones to keep in mind for our readers:
- Windows 7 is set to release on October 22, 2009. (You can read my blog on it here)
- Windows 7 RC available till August 20, 2009. So hurry if you haven't tried.
- Windows 7 BETA begins to expire on July 1, 2009.
- Windows 7 RC begins to expire on 1st March, 2010.
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