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It all started early in June 2009, when Microsoft revealed that it planned to launch the next iteration of the Windows client to the public on October 22. At that time, Brandon LeBlanc, Windows communications manager on the Windows Client Communications Team, stated that “Release To Manufacturing (RTM) is an important milestone on the path to GA. We anticipate that we’ll be able to make the RTM code for Windows 7 available to our partners sometime in the 2nd half of July. We also expect to be able to make RTM code for Windows Server 2008 R2 available to our partners in this time frame as well.” Now the Redmond company is saying that Windows 7 RTM will be closer to the end of July.

Speculation available in the wild indicated previously that July 13th, 2009 would be the sign-off date for Windows 7. The ambiguous “sometime in the 2nd half of July” surely failed to help bring any sort of clarification as to a specific RTM deadline. But now the software giant is pointing to the end of this month for RTM, but certainly not to mid-July.

When it announced that Steven Sinofsky was promoted to President of the Windows Division, Microsoft also revealed that Bill Veghte, senior vice president for the Windows Business, would transition to a new “leadership role in the company to be announced later this year. The transition between Reller and Veghte is timed to take place in late July when Windows 7 reaches the release to manufacturing (RTM) milestone.” (emphasis added)

Late July puts Windows 7 RTM anywhere between two and three weeks away, but certainly not the next week. Speculation of a July 13th RTM date for Windows 7 was also fueled by the fact that between July 13 and 16 the company will hold its 2009 Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference in New Orleans.

At the event, Microsoft plans to deliver “exclusive insights and outlines of innovation roadmaps for the upcoming year from Steve Ballmer, Kevin Turner, Allison Watson, Bill Veghte, Bob Muglia, Stephen Elop, Bob Kelly, Chris Capossela, Steven Guggenheimer, and other executives. In-depth information and demos of the new Microsoft product lineup, including Windows 7, Windows Server 2008, Microsoft Office 2010, Windows Mobile 6.5, Microsoft Silverlight 3, Microsoft SQL Server 2008, and Azure Services Platform.”