Jason Dunn
07-22-2009, 11:49 PM
<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windows7/archive/2009/07/22/windows-7-has-been-released-to-manufacturing.aspx' target='_blank'>http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/wi...ufacturing.aspx</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>"I am pleased to announce that Windows 7 has RTM'd! As I mentioned previously, RTM officially happens only after sign-off occurs. What happens is a build gets designated as a RTM contender after going through significant testing and meeting our quality bar for RTM. Then, it goes though all the validation checks required for RTM including having all languages of that build completed. If all the validation checks have passed - sign-off for RTM can occur. Today after all the validation checks were met, we signed off and declared build 7600 as RTM."</em></p><p><object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" width="600" height="360" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"><param name="src" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/BQX-y7mtFVg" /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="600" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/BQX-y7mtFVg"></embed></object></p><p>That quote pretty much says it all - Windows 7 has "gone gold" as they used to say, and the bits are flying out. The most pertinant question may be "When can I get it?". <a href="http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windows7/archive/2009/07/21/when-will-you-get-windows-7-rtm.aspx" target="_blank">This is a good blog post about that</a> - I'm impressed that by August 6th I'll be able to download the RTM version via MSDN. Good timing - I'll migrate all my systems over to Windows 7 before my <a href="http://www.jasondunn.com/having-a-son-1545" target="_blank">son is born at the end of the month</a>, because I hear having a kid eats up your spare time or something. ;-)</p>