The official consumer release date is still October 22nd.

The download is just in English. Towards the end of the month other lanugages will be available.

For information on when Windows 7 will be available to specific sets of people, check out this Windows 7 Availability post from the Windows 7 Team Blog.

I bit the bullet after finding a TechNet coupon for 25% off (TMSAM10, else try TMSAM07 – courtesy tjoos.com).

There are also MSDN coupons, although the subscription is too expensive for me. If you’re a startup (with some conditions such as less than $1 million a month revenue) consider joining Microsoft’s BizSparks program. That gets you a free MSDN subscription.

They tend to advertise some convoluted ’sign-up with a network partner’ nonsense – however, you can just ask Microsoft to review your application.

Windows 7 RTM – Downloading Windows 7 Ultimate

Everyone must be downloading at the same time since I’m getting 40 kbps speeds which means an eternal 20 hr wait. Will be installing Windows 7 Ultimate and will let you guys know how it goes. Especially looking forward to the Touch Pack and how it works on my HP TouchSmart.

As a nice bonus this will probably let me try out the Office 2010 RTM early.

Another thing that would be nice is if my 2nd monitor adapter works with the RTM straight off the bat (Couldn’t get it to work on the W7 RC, although it works great on Vista).

A few sites have begun to post their thoughts based on playing around with the Windows 7 RTM leaked builds.

Technorati Tags: windows 7, windows 7 rtm

May 5th 2:02 am Update: Installed Successfully so you know this guide works.

Installing W7RC Step 1: Getting the Release Candidate

First, download the file, and get and write down your Windows 7 Release Candidate key from http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/download.aspx. W7RC will be available for download until July 2009.

The official windows 7 team blog is a good resource to keep in mind for official updates.

Step 2: Download software that lets you install without burning a DVD

I had written a small post on installing Windows 7 without burning a DVD. Crux is to use one of the available programs -

1. MagicISO – this lets you mount your Windows 7 ISO as a virtual drive and then install from that drive.
2. Virtual CloneDrivefrom SlySoft. They also have a promotion right now (till Jan 11th, 2009) if you want to buy

Step 3: Make a backup of the data on your PC

Make a back-up of the data on your computer and make sure that all your important data is included. Also, for especially crucial data save additional copies on www.box.net or in one of your email folders.

Note: Microsoft recommends installing Windows 7 RC only on a test machine. DO NOT install on your work machine as a messed up install might prevent you from working.

Step 4: Read the Installation Instructions 

Yes, its boring. However, do read the possible issues, such as an issue with some HP PCs - Installation Instructions for W7RC.

If you have a touchsmart you might look at my Windows 7 + Touchsmart post. Although its for the Beta and not the RC it might help you find drivers etc.

Step 5: Mount the Windows 7 ISO file into a virtual Drive using the Magic Iso software.

Start the Magic Iso software and an icon will show up on your ‘currently running’ tray. Steps are -

1. Right Click on it.  
2. Go to the very top and select Virtual Drive. 
3. Selected whatever virtual drive is listed, and choose Mount.
4. Navigate to wherever you saved the Windows 7 RC file and mount it.
5. It’ll give you an option on whether you want to run Startup or open the folder. Choose to run Startup.

Step 6: Sit back and Let the Windows 7 Installation Run.

Things to keep in mind -

1. The Upgrade option is available. However it is not supported. Recommend a fresh install – strongly recommend it.  
2. If you install on a drive that already has ANY version of Windows that version will get overwritten and its files will be moved to the Windows.old directory. If possible install into a new partition.  
3. Once again, make sure you’ve backed up your existing data.
4. After this, Windows 7 will unpack files, install them, and in between reboot a few times. First few times if you get multiple options at start-up, always choose Setup. Do not choose ‘Roll back Setup’. After that choose ‘Windows 7′ – it’ll have an arrow indicator and will be the top option in the list.
5. After installation is complete, you’ll have to choose your region, a name, and also enter your product key. If you forget to write it down (like I did) you can just press next and enter it later.

Let me know how your Windows 7 Release Candidate installation goes, and best of luck.

Congrats – At this point you should have Windows 7 installed and running. Windows 7 RC took exactly 35 minutes from beginning to end for me.

Technorati Tags: installing windows 7, windows 7, windows 7 release candidate

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/download.aspx

Will be available for download until July 2009. Also, the number of Windows Keys for the Release Candidate are not capped.

There is not yet any update on the official windows 7 team blog stating that downloads have been made available – however they are.

Still don’t like that you have to do a fresh install if you have Windows 7 Beta already. Do look at the Installation Instructions for W7RC.

Note: It sucks – however you have to sign up for a windows live id to download Windows 7 release candidate. The page is really slow – seems a lot of people are downloading. I ran into an error.

Update 2: Have the file, doing a back-up and will then install Windows 7 Release Candidate. Starting a new post to cover it.

Update: After 5-6 attempts I finally have the Akamai download manager downloading W7RC. Speed is really, really slow.

BTW, the Release Candidate has this rather interesting little feature -

The RC will expire on June 1, 2010. Starting on March 1, 2010, your PC will begin shutting down every two hours. Windows will notify you two weeks before the bi-hourly shutdowns start. To avoid interruption, you’ll need to rebuild your test machine using a valid version of Windows before the software expires. You’ll need to rebuild your test PC to replace the OS and reinstall all your programs and data.

Shutdowns every 2 hours – that’s rather infantile.

Technorati Tags: windows 7, windows 7 release candidate

1. Available to the public on May 5th (at the Windows 7 Team Blog).
2. Technet and MSDN subscribers get it on April 30th.
3. Dell and other OEM partners are already testing it.

Microsoft continues to claim that General Availability for Windows 7 will be in 2010. However a May 5th RC release indicates that Microsoft will have Windows 7 out by end September to early October 2009 – well in time for the 2009 holiday season.

Windows 7 RC is already available at Torrent Sites as RC Build 7100 (standard warnings apply – try it at your own risk). Xtreme CPU went so far as to install a Windows 7 Pre-Release Candidate build on a netbook and found it works as well as Windows XP -

As for our hands on feel of Windows 7 on the netbook?  While the 7068 Build we used was the considerably more resource intensive Ultimate version, it actually performed almost identically as the specialized ULCPC version of XP Home.

People are already putting up Windows 7 videos –

ZDNet has a Windows 7 RC image gallery and praises the RC -

The performance of the Windows 7 builds post the Beta 1 (build 7000) has improved dramatically.

Windows 7 Beta was really impressive – I’ve been using it as my main OS since it came out and apart from IE horror stories everything has been awesome.

The whole ‘go back to vista and then install Windows 7 RC’ thing scares me (read the official W7 team blog for the request) so I’m either -

1. Going to do a fresh install of Windows 7 RC; or 
2. Buy a netbook and install windows 7 RC on it.

In either case will add on videos and pictures for you.

f-default have listed their three favorite features and have to admit it looks really exciting. Windows 7 Beta was better than Vista. If W7 RC improves on that, we might be looking at one of the most successful Windows ever.

Technorati Tags: windows 7, windows 7 release candidate

Windows 7 Ultimate is the version that’s available as the Beta so you can see and try out all the features.

MSFT is learning from its mistakes with Vista and will not be offering ‘future updates’ and such nonsense with W7 Ultimate.

Windows 7 Ultimate Details

Will update this later.

Windows 7 Ultimate System Requirements

These have not yet been released.

At this point I’m getting super confused about why Microsoft would release all these different versions. I think just three versions should be publicized i.e.

1. Windows 7 Home Premium.
2. Windows 7 Enterprise
3. Windows 7 Ultimate.

Windows 7 Enterprise only goes to companies that buy volume licensing so it never need be mentioned to consumers. Similarly Home Basic is only for emerging markets so forget mentioning it. And finally, starter is mostly for OEMs for small machines so again, stop mentioning it.

Technorati Tags: windows 7 editions

1. Bit Locker – data protection on internal and external drives,
2. Direct Access – seamless connectivity to corporate networks based on Windows Server 2008 R2
3. Branch Cache – support when on networks based on Windows Server 2008 R2.
4. App Locker – lock unauthorized software from running with App Locker.

This is in addition to all the W7 Professional features (Domain Join, Location Aware Printing, etc.) and all the W7 Home Premium features (Aero Glass, Multi-Touch, etc.).

More on Windows 7 Enterprise

Windows 7 Enterprise has the exact same feature set as Ultimate SKU.

It also seems that Microsoft has approximately 34 million customers on something akin to the Enterprise Edition and that the renewal rates for these customers exceeded 80%.

My guess would be that these people are mostly on XP and would upgrade to Vista SP 2 or to Windows 7.

My Thoughts on Having 6 Windows 7 SKUs

The more I read up about the various flavours of Windows 7, the more I feel its rather needless. Yes, perhaps having multiple SKUs makes it easier to sell – however it is doing a disservice to consumers.

I’m pretty tech literate and even I’m confused by the differences between editions, and more so, by why different editions are even needed.

Microsoft has taken a big step by reducing the number of SKUs – I feel that they can get rid of 2 to 3 of the remaining 6 SKUs without losing much in terms of marketability.

Windows 7 Enterprise System Requirements

Not yet released.

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Windows 7 Professional will have some features in addition to the ones found on Home Premium (which has Multi Touch, Aero Glass, etc.) like –

1. Domain Join – the ability to join a managed network at work.
2. Advanced Network Backup.

The Professional SKU does not support the Bit Locker encryption feature which is only available in the Enterprise and Ultimate Editions. It also misses a couple other features that are available in the Enterprise and Ultimate SKUs.

Quite frankly, features like Bit Locker are valuable ones for any business and really ought to be part of the Professional Edition. 

Windows 7 Professional is one of Microsoft’s Focus Areas

Bill Veghte, Senior VP at Microsoft Windows Team, indicated to Mary Jo Foley –

Microsoft is putting the bulk of its marketing dollars and muscle behind just two of the Windows 7 SKUs: Windows 7 Home Premium and Windows 7 Professional. “We think over 80 percent of customers will be on those two SKUs,”

This clearly indicates that Microsoft has learnt from the Vista ‘more editions than fingers’ fiasco.

Comparison with Enterprise Edition + Ultimate Edition

The Enterprise Edition of Windows 7 is only available for businesses that buy volume licensing. The Ultimate Edition is for home consumers that want to get all the high end features of the Enterprise edition. The four features these systems have that are missing in Windows 7 Professional are –

Bit Locker – data protection on internal and external drives,

Direct Access – seamless connectivity to corporate networks based on Windows Server 2008 R2

Branch Cache – support when on networks based on Windows Server 2008 R2.

App Locker – lock unauthorized software from running with App Locker.

Windows 7 Professional System Requirements

The minimum and recommended system requirements for Windows 7 Professional SKU are not yet out. I’ll update this page when they’re released.

Technorati Tags: windows 7 editions

If you’re looking to buy a flavour of windows 7 for your home PC, I’d strongly recommend you to go with the Home Premium Edition or the Ultimate Edition.

Home Basic has some features that the Starter Edition does not i.e.

1. Running more than 3 applications at the same time.
2. Advanced networking support such as sharing an internet connection.
3. A better visual experience.

However it misses out on the full Windows 7 experience since it does not have full support for features like Multi Touch, Windows Media Center, Aero Glass visuals, etc. that Home Premium does have.

Windows 7 Home Basic Minimum System Requirements

These have not yet been released.

Windows 7 Home Basic Recommended system Requirements.

There are no recommendations yet from Microsoft for the W7 Home Basic SKU.

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Home Premium will have the richest set of features for home consumers including –

1. Multi Touch
2. Aero Glass
3. Windows Media Center + all the new changes.
4. Multi Touch and Handwriting Recognition.

These will not be available on the Starter and Home Basic Editions.

W7 Home Premium will, however, not have some of the enterprise targeted advanced features that the Professional, Enterprise and Ultimate SKUs of Windows 7 will have, such as Bit Locker encryption, Domain Join and so forth..

Netbooks + Windows 7 Home Premium Edition

Microsoft is actually pushing Windows 7 Home Premium as the preferred W7 Edition for netbooks. This shouldn’t be surprising as netbooks have been running the Windows 7 Beta well, and Home Premium does have a rich feature set for users.

Brad Brooks, VP at Microsoft, had this to say –

With Windows 7 we are on track to have a smaller OS footprint; an improved user interface that should allow for faster boot-up and shut-down times; improved power management for enhanced battery life; enhanced media capabilities; and increased reliability, stability and security …

These … allow small notebook PCs to run any version of Windows 7 … For OEMs that build lower-cost small notebook PCs, Windows 7 Starter will now be available in developed markets. For the most enhanced, full-functioning Windows experience on small notebook PCs, however, consumers will want to go with Windows 7 Home Premium.

This clearly indicates that Microsoft is not forgetting netbooks. Also note that XP Home will be available to netbook manufacturers till 2010.

Windows 7 Home Premium Minimum System Requirements

Not Yet Released.

Windows 7 Home Premium Hardware System Requirements

Mike Ybarra, GM at Microsoft had this to say about Windows 7 Hardware recommendations for various editions like Home Premium –

Because Windows 7 is still under development, however, we have not yet put together our guidance on hardware recommendations.

Technorati Tags: netbooks, windows 7 editions

Here’s what Mike Ybarra, GM at Microsoft had to say about Windows 7 Starter Edition –

We’ll also continue to offer Windows Starter edition, which will only be offered pre-installed by an OEM. Windows Starter edition will now be available worldwide. This edition is available only in the OEM channel on new PCs limited to specific types of hardware.

This seems to hint at the fact that Windows 7 Starter Edition will be used on very low spec devices like UMPCs and lower end netbooks.

Windows 7 Starter Edition + Netbooks

All the people saying that Windows 7 will not have a version targeted at Netbooks are missing the point – the Windows 7 Beta already runs well on netbooks. Brad Brooks, VP at Microsoft has confirmed that Windows 7 editions will run on netbooks and that the Windows 7 Home Premium Edition is best suited to get the most our of netbooks. He’s also said that Windows 7 Starter Edition is best for lower end netbooks –

For OEMs that build lower-cost small notebook PCs, Windows 7 Starter will now be available in developed markets. For the most enhanced, full-functioning Windows experience on small notebook PCs, however, consumers will want to go with Windows 7 Home Premium,

More details on Windows7 Starter Edition 

There are reports that this edition will be limited to running at most 3 apps concurrently. I can’t find an official MS release saying this.

Its also stated that it’ll be limited to having some features like Jump Lists and Home Group and not other features like Aero Glass, Multi Touch, and Play To. Again, looking to confirm this.

Windows Vista Starter Edition was not available in developed countries. This has changed with Microsoft now allowing Windows 7 Starter Edition everywhere. In addition, this will be, like in Vista, the cheapest edition and aimed at users who are beginner computer users.

Keep in mind that this will only be available to OEMs.

Minimum Requirements/Specifications for running Window7 Starter Edition 

To Be Updated.

Recommended System Specifications for running Windows 7 Starter Edition

Details are currently scarce and I’ll update as and when more information about Windows 7 Starter Edition is out.

Technorati Tags: netbooks, windows 7 editions