Previous rumors led us to believe that Microsoft would deliver RC for Windows 7 in April 10, 2009. However, Russian website wzor.net has reported that Microsoft has revised their schedule for Windows 7. These were the dates reported:
Release Candidate Dates:
Windows 7 RC escrow build and Windows Server 2008 R2 is scheduled for release on the fourth week of April 2009.
They will be internal escrow builds. Windows 7 RC1 and Windows Server 2008 R2 will be publicly released at the end of May 2009
Other Important Dates:
The most recent build compiled is 7061 and was compiled on March 11th, 2009
The Windows 7 pre-RTM Creative Test build will be compiled by the last week of July 2009
Distribution of Windows 7 RTM Master image will be distributed to Technet/MSDN subscribers in August 2009
Officially, the new products, Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 will be presented at the IT Forum at the beginning of November 2009
(The source did not state clearly whether this would be a release, announcement, or demo and used a bad choice of words)
Office 14 Beta will show up in the first few days of July and won’t be public. Beta 2 will be released five months after. Office 14 RTM will be released sometime in the beginning of March 2010.
It’s good to see that Microsoft is putting a lot of thought into the development process and timeline of Windows 7. Hopefully the revised schedule means we will be seeing a much more stable and refined Windows 7.