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And now that Windows 7 has been released to manufacturing, it was clear to me that all the work done covering the operating system since 2008 deserved a “one article to rule them all.” Drum roll... Just one piece of advice, prepare to scroll, because you will need to. What will you be able to see? Well, all major development milestones of Windows 7. In this regard, there are three stages in the evolution of the latest iteration of the Windows client, the Milestone releases, Beta and post-Beta, and Release Candidate ending with the RTM.

In all fairness, the Windows 7 journey started after Windows Vista shipped, but the public only got a small taste in early 2008. At that time, the first builds were kept under a tight lid, and the little details that made it into the wild revealed an operating system not that distinct from its precursor Windows Vista. In fact, this was the primary argument critics used to call “fake” on all the leaked details of the early stages of Windows 7, that it was too much Vista for its own good, and certainly too much to be Windows 7. They were of course proved wrong.

In less than three years since the general availability of Windows XP's successor, Microsoft has wrapped and will release Windows 7 to the public, despite clinching for dear life to an illusory January 2010 GA, which fooled nobody, for quite some time. Under Steven Sinofsky, now president, Windows Division, Windows 7 moved from Beta to RTM in well under a year. But let's go back to the beginnings, shall we?

Windows 7 Milestone 1, 2 and 3

In January 2008, the first reports of Windows 7 Milestone 1 Build 6.1.6519.1 leaked. Neither details, screenshots, nor even a video of Build 6.1.6519.1.x86.fre.winmain.071220-1525 were capable of completely dispelling the skepticism that M1 was nothing more than an elaborate prank, with Windows Vista hiding behind the scenes.

It was Windows 7 Milestone 2 Build 6574.1 that made clear the intimate connection between Windows 7 (6.1) and Windows Vista (6.0). In fact Build 6519.1.x86.fre.winmain.071220-1525 was the first one that leaked outside of Redmond and was made available for download at scale by various third-party sources. What did users get? Well, pretty much Vista. The installer said Windows Vista, the graphical user interface was Vista's Aero, the features screamed Vista, only a few details such as winver and the build string screen watermark, along with the feedback channels revealed that it was in fact Windows 7.

October 13, 2008 is not a date to forget, and has more than won its right to be mentioned. This was the day when Mike Nash, corporate vice president, Windows Product Management, announced that codename Windows 7 would be officially branded as Windows 7. What followed were Builds 6801 and 6956 and the Professional Developer Conference 2008.

Windows 7 Build 6801 was Milestone 3 and the release that was served to PDC08 participants. Its strongest asset was the focus on providing developers with all the APIs (application programming interfaces) necessary for them to start building Windows 7-tailored applications. At the start of November 2008, Microsoft also released Build 6801 to hardware manufacturers. However, at that time, the company was already demonstrating Windows 7 Build 6956, which was as close to Beta as possible, and even featured all the Windows 7-specific eye candy, Windows Aero, the Superbar, Thumbnail Previews, Aero Peek, Aero Snap, etc.