Acer yesterday spilled the beans on Microsoft's Windows 7 release plans during an event in London.
Although Microsoft has been quick to squash any suggestion that Windows 7 would be released before its own January 2010 deadline, we've been hearing whispers that the upcoming OS release schedule is much further on than that – September or October was the timeframe we've been hearing for quite some time.
"23rd October is the date that Windows 7 will be available," said Bobby Watkins, Managing Director of Acer UK, in an interview with Pocket-lint. "There is a 30 day upgrade time so that customers don't wait to buy a new computer, so if you buy during that 30 day period, you'll get a free upgrade to Windows 7."
In a separate interview, Massimo D'Angelo, Vice President of Acer Europe, added more fuel to the fire when he responded to a the question of whether the company would ship its upcoming range of All In One PCs with Microsoft's new OS. "No, when it's in store, it won't have Windows 7 pre-loaded. We won't be actually selling it a day before the 23rd October."
Microsoft responded to Acer's statement with a long-winded no comment, which read: "On 30 April we made the Release Candidate (RC) of Windows 7 available for download to MSDN and TechNet subscribers. Windows 7 Release Candidate is a major business and engineering milestone, and indicates that the operating system is entering the final phases of development. Windows 7 RC is the result of feedback from millions of customers and partners around the world, and is ready for partners to develop and test applications, device drivers and services. As we have said for some time, we are committed to making Windows 7 available within three years of the General Availability of Windows Vista."
That doesn't look like a denial to us, so mark your calendars – it looks like 23rd October is the day. For those of you still running the beta, it might make sense to upgrade to the release candidate now, as the beta's expiry date is before the new OS looks set to ship.
If you've been testing Windows 7 since the beta came out, how have you found it so far? Tell us in the forums.
Although Microsoft has been quick to squash any suggestion that Windows 7 would be released before its own January 2010 deadline, we've been hearing whispers that the upcoming OS release schedule is much further on than that – September or October was the timeframe we've been hearing for quite some time.
"23rd October is the date that Windows 7 will be available," said Bobby Watkins, Managing Director of Acer UK, in an interview with Pocket-lint. "There is a 30 day upgrade time so that customers don't wait to buy a new computer, so if you buy during that 30 day period, you'll get a free upgrade to Windows 7."
In a separate interview, Massimo D'Angelo, Vice President of Acer Europe, added more fuel to the fire when he responded to a the question of whether the company would ship its upcoming range of All In One PCs with Microsoft's new OS. "No, when it's in store, it won't have Windows 7 pre-loaded. We won't be actually selling it a day before the 23rd October."
Microsoft responded to Acer's statement with a long-winded no comment, which read: "On 30 April we made the Release Candidate (RC) of Windows 7 available for download to MSDN and TechNet subscribers. Windows 7 Release Candidate is a major business and engineering milestone, and indicates that the operating system is entering the final phases of development. Windows 7 RC is the result of feedback from millions of customers and partners around the world, and is ready for partners to develop and test applications, device drivers and services. As we have said for some time, we are committed to making Windows 7 available within three years of the General Availability of Windows Vista."
That doesn't look like a denial to us, so mark your calendars – it looks like 23rd October is the day. For those of you still running the beta, it might make sense to upgrade to the release candidate now, as the beta's expiry date is before the new OS looks set to ship.
If you've been testing Windows 7 since the beta came out, how have you found it so far? Tell us in the forums.
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