Windows 7 Is Finally Released

It is hard--make that impossible--to recommend that Windows XP users upgrade to Windows 7. Especially when the new OS really wants a clean installation, goodbye apps, goodbye drivers, goodbye hours of people's time. RTM or not, Win7 isn't any closer to many users' PCs, including most of mine, PC World reports.

Photo: Windows 7 Is Finally Released

Meanwhile, few periods in Microsoft's existence have been as bruising as the past two-and-a-half years. Ever since the company shipped Windows Vista, it's been one public relations catastrophe after another. First, there were the instabilities -- wave after wave of bad press about buggy drivers and spotty backward compatibility. Then came the revolt, with users demanding that Microsoft extend the life of Windows XP indefinitely in a tacit rejection of the company's Vista road map.

It looked like the end was nigh for Microsoft's desktop hegemony. Vista would be the albatross that finally brought the company down, ushering in a new era of platform-independent applications running on Linux or Mac OS X. Apple, in particular, made hay with Vista's troubles, lampooning the unpopular OS in a series of well-crafted TV spots. These truly were heady times for those banking on Microsoft's demise ,NetworkWorld.com reports.

"Today's release is the result of the amazing amount of feedback we received from the millions of people who tested Windows 7 - from Beta to RC," said communications manager Brandon LeBlanc. "We actually had over 10 million people opt-in to the Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP). That's a lot of people opting in to help us make Windows 7 a solid release. Through CEIP, our engineers were guided by customer feedback all the way to RTM. We also have had a great group of beta testers who have dedicated a great deal of their time to testing Windows 7 too. A special thank you goes out to all the people who helped test Windows 7." ,TrustedReviews reports.