A recent report on a Microsoft partner blog has recently revealed that the Redmond giant would release the RTM version of Windows 7 on October 3, 2009. A post on the website Engineering Windows 7 shows that the developers are already preparing the RC version of the OS, so it indirectly confirms the new report.

This means that there will be no Beta 2 release of Windows 7 and hence, that Microsoft is really in a hurry to release the new product. On the other hand, the post published on the Windows 7 blog pointed out that the information should be considered neither as a change or plans, nor as a specific release schedule of Windows 7.

This is the first time when Microsoft decides to skip a second beta release, but this should not be a problem, as Windows 7 Beta build 7000 proved to be an incredibly stable and speedy system, according to reviewers. Moreover, many analysts pointed out that Microsoft’s sales figures would significantly rise if the company released the operating system by this year’s holiday season.

One more reason for Microsoft to release Windows 7 sooner is to minimize the disappointing situation of Vista, which proved to be a letdown in terms of both commercial success and of popularity among users. Among all Windows versions, Vista has been the most criticized operating system that Microsoft has ever released.

While the official schedule for Windows 7 RTM still is “late 2009” or “early 2010,” a recent post on a Swedish Microsoft partner blog revealed that the company would release the operating system no later than October 3, this year. The release date comes along with other pretty precise release date for the Release Candidate version, which should be rolled out sometime after CeBIT in April.

It is fairly unlikely that the release dates would eventually be exactly these, but the rumors that come from sources close to Microsoft and the numerous blog reports clearly show that the company is in a hurry. Maybe the Redmond giant is also trying to take advantage from the huge popularity that Windows 7 already has among users, as the company recently extended the deadline of the Beta version availability through February 10.

Overall, Microsoft seems to have learned from its mistakes with Vista and that the company is readying an operating system that will prove to be fast and reliable. Analysts expect that Windows 7 will eventually convince both Vista users and XP veterans to switch to the new software environment, as there are plenty of reasons to do this.

Source : efluxmedia