Brian S. Tucker

·         4/30  - RC Availability to managed Beta programs including MSDN and TechNet subscribers, Connect Beta testers, and TAP customers

·         5/5 – Availability through the Customer Preview Program. Anyone can download the RC build through this program.

·         TBD – RTM availability has not been set yet. See timing guidance below.

As with the Beta, customers will be able to download Windows 7 RC online from Windows.com, TechNet and MSDN.  There will be no limits on the number of keys provided or the number of Windows 7 downloads supported.  RC downloads will be available at least through June 2009. 

Windows 7 Release Timeline, including RTM guidance?

In talking about the delivery of Windows 7 and when we expect to achieve the next milestones in the product release, it’s important to talk about the key milestones, and the goals and principles that we plan to achieve at each stage; then you as the partner can be the judge as to whether we achieved the goal of each milestone, the quality of the product, and when you believe we will release the product.

• PDC (Professional Developers Conference). The first major milestone was the release at PDC of the Milestone 3 (M3) build of Windows 7.  The goal at this point was to provide a product that was platform complete and reliable to release to the developer (ISV) and IHV ecosystem and enable them to start preparing their applications and hardware for Windows 7.   The feedback was very positive.

• Beta.  In the January timeframe, the goal was to provide a product that performed well, was reliable and was feature complete, so that we could share it with a broad set of end users and IT professionals, providing them with a first look at the upcoming OS and allowing them to factor Windows 7 into their deployment and migration planning.  It is estimated that 2.8M customers installed and used Windows 7 Beta. The customer reception has been very positive.   Customer feedback and beta testing results are the key factor in defining the timing of the next milestone. 

• RC (Release Candidate).  Our next release, Windows 7 RC, will be available beginning April 30th.  The goal for the RC is to deliver a very high quality product that demonstrates our aspiration on the quality of the final RTM version.   With RC our goal is to get broad evaluation from IT Professionals and businesses testing it in their environments. 

• RTM.  The final engineering milestone is the release to manufacturing (RTM).  This release is typically 3-5 months after the RC.  We believe the product is very high quality and to date have received very positive feedback.  This might result in RTM delivery before the 3-5 months timeframe.  But ultimately you'll decide the quality and assess the delivery once you download and use the RC.  Customer and partner feedback will determine how quickly we release after RC. The released version of Windows 7 will typically be made available to our Windows Volume Licensing customers 2-3 weeks after RTM.

Why should partners and customers upgrade to Windows 7 RC?

·         First, to experience the latest that Windows 7 has to offer.  Several new features, including XP VPC, are available in the RC build of Windows 7.  Also, users will experience continued improvements in overall system performance and polish.

·         Second, for those using a Beta version of Windows 7, it is important to migrate to Windows 7 RC to avoid the timebomb that is build into Windows 7 Beta.  That timebomb will activate on 7/1/2009.   Two weeks before the timebomb activates (on 6/17), users will begin receiving frequent notifications about the timebomb.  When the timebomb activates, users will experience frequent notifications and forced reboots. 

Please advise your customers who are using the Windows 7 Beta to migrate to Windows 7 RC to avoid the timebomb.  It is imperative that everyone running Windows 7 Beta move to RC, when available.  Note that all Beta customers who registered for a key will receive several e-mails notifying them of the timebomb and encouraging them to move to Windows 7 RC.  (Windows 7 RC also has a built-in timebomb, but this will not activate until 3/1/2010.)

What is the recommended path to migrate to Windows 7 RC?

The recommended path to migrate to Windows 7 RC depends on what operating system you are currently running:

In all of these scenarios, the Windows Easy Transfer tool can be used make it easier to restore files and settings after a clean install.

 How will Microsoft collect and use feedback from Windows 7 RC?

The “Send Feedback” feature isn’t in Windows 7 RC, because we’re at a later stage of the software development process. With this release, we’re focused on verifying that all the changes and fixes we made based on the Beta tests and feedback are working correctly. We do that by gathering the automatically generated information (called telemetry) that your PC sends us when you use Windows 7 RC.  Telemetry provides information about when your computer hangs, crashes or has performance issues, and it lets us know what applications or devices you were using when you experienced problems.  It is important that we get this data from thousands of different hardware configurations in order to complete Windows 7.  This will help us confirm that the fixes we included based on Beta feedback work on a wide range of hardware, and identify any new problems. 

Where can I get Windows 7 materials?

-          Windows 7 MSPP Site

-          Windows 7 Customer Site

-          Windows 7 Shop

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