Windows 7: Public Beta Soon
There have been several reports that indicate that a public beta of Windows 7 would be available in early January. What's more, according to several sources (ZDNet's Ed Bott, Internet News.com Andy Patrizio and last week WinInfo's Paul Thurrott) Windows 7 will ship this summer (a June 2009 shipping date is being mentioned) - way earlier than Microsoft has (so far) indicated.
Some people are thinking that a June 2009 ship date is not likely. This is roughly 31 months after Vista went RTM (Release To Manufacturing). I'll just point out that Microsoft shipped Windows XP only 20 months after Windows 2000, so a 31 month development cycle for Windows 7 would certainly be a possibility. Most people will remember the painful Windows Vista development cycle, which took 63 months from the day Windows XP went RTM to its own RTM. Microsoft is determined not to let that happen again.
One should also keep in mind that the changes from Windows Vista to Windows 7 are comparable to the changes Microsoft made when it went from Windows 2000 to Windows XP, so although the beta cycle for Windows 7 looks to be very short, it looks plausible.
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