Windows 7 general availability is getting closer, and Microsoft has made available more information regarding the launch and release roadmap schedule of Windows 7. Generally, Windows 7 will be generally available for retail purchase on stores worldwide and available as OEM pre-installed OS starting from October 22nd, 2009. Do note that Windows Server 2008 R2, which shares the same code base, will have similar release schedule and roadmap.

However, not all language versions of Windows 7 will be available on zero launch day. However, contrary to previous roadmap that saw up to 8 waves of release, all languages available for Windows 7 will be released in 2 batches only.

October 22, 2009: 14 languages – English, Spanish, Japanese, German, French, Italian, Dutch, Russian, Polish, Brazilian Portuguese, Korean, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese and Chinese (Hong Kong)

October 31, 2009: Remaining 21 languages – Turkish, Czech, Portuguese, Hungarian, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Finnish, Greek, Ukrainian, Romanian, Arabic, Lithuanian, Bulgarian, Estonian, Slovenian, Hebrew, Thai, Croatian, Serbian Latin, and Latvian.

October 22, 2009 (Wave 0): Brazilian, Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional (Hong Kong), Chinese Traditional (Taiwan), Czech, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese,
Russian, Spanish, Turkish

Windows 7 SKU or Edition Available: Windows 7 Starter, Windows 7 Home Basic, Windows 7 Home Premium, Windows 7 Professional, Windows 7 Enterprise and Windows 7 Ultimate. Most end-users will be selecting between Windows 7 Home Premium, Professional and Ultimate though. On top of usual Windows 7 K, N and KN editions, Windows 7 will also release a special SKU of Windows 7 E edition for European countries, where no Internet Explorer 8 (IE8) will be included. Windows 7 E will be selling at promotional upgrade pricing for full version edition before December 31, 2009, as upgrade SKU is not available yet, although direct upgrade from Windows Vista is not supported.

Retail customers who intend buy or purchase a licensed copy of Windows 7 can refer to Windows 7 pricing details to get an idea on how much Windows 7 new full package and upgrade version license is. Windows 7 pre-order discount promo offer is also available, which entitles end-users to up to 58% of discount without the need of coupon code.

US: Windows 7 Home Premium ($49.99) and Windows 7 Professional ($99.99)
Canada: Windows 7 Home Premium ($64.99) and Windows 7 Professional ($124.99)
Japan: Windows 7 Home Premium (¥7,407) and Windows 7 Professional (¥14,073)
UK: Windows 7 Home Premium (£49.99) and Windows 7 Professional (£99.99)
France and Germany: Windows 7 Home Premium (€49.99) and Windows 7 Professional (€109.99)

Before October 22nd, 2009, it’s impossible to order a PC, be it desktop or notebook/laptop computer with Windows 7 pre-installed. If you must buy a PC before October 22nd, 2009 (or accidentally buy a Windows Vista computer before January 31st, 2010), Microsoft has Windows 7 Upgrade Option Program that entitles new Windows Vista PCs free upgrade to Windows 7 when the later is officially released. Just check that the computer manufacturer is participating in the free upgrade program, and the license has eligible upgrade path.

Not only for end-user consumers, Microsoft is also extending Windows 7 promotion to corporate users, where they can receive a 15% discount on Open Software Assurance or Open Value Software Assurance attached to new PCs equipped with Windows Vista Business, which automatically entitles to rights to Winodws 7 when it’s released. The offer has to redeem and purchase by August 31, 2009. More information at microsoftincentives.com.

Windows 7 users with less-premium edition of Windows 7 (not Windows 7 Ultimate) is also allowed to upgrade to higher edition through Windows Anytime Upgrade (WAU), a quick and easy upgrade process by simply purchasing an upgrade key to unlock additional features. Other than usual Windows Anytime Upgrade link contains in installed Windows 7 operating system, Windows Anytime Upgrade retail box may be available too.

Microsoft has also published Windows 7 Upgrade Test Matrix which shows which upgrade paths are supported and not supported by Windows 7. However, one interesting note is that Microsoft has privately stated that activated Windows 7 Release Candidate (RC) can be upgrade directly to Windows 7 RTM by using an Windows 7 upgrade disk without having to reinstall older operating system. However, do note that it’s a convenient provided for Windows 7 upgrade license holder only, as it’s not in-place upgrade, but a clean custom install, where all existing operating system, programs and data are squirreled away in a folder labeled WINDOWS.OLD.

Windows 7 RTM is expected to be build 7600. The final Windows 7 RTM is expected to make available for free downloads on Microsoft Connect, MSDN and TechNet on July 24, 2009, although officially, the availability of Windows 7 final RTM on MSDN and TechNet will be a “few weeks later”.

•MSDN & TechNet Subscribers: Subscribers will be able to download the final version of Windows 7 a few weeks after Microsoft announces RTM.
•Volume License (VL) Customers: As announced by Bill Veghte during his WPC09 keynote, Windows 7 will be available to Volume License customers on September 1st.
•Consumers, Enthusiasts, & Beta Testers (Everyone else): The retail version of Windows 7 will be available in stores October 22nd. If you pre-ordered Windows 7, it should be delivered sometime around the October 22nd timeframe (depends on the retailer).
•On New PCs: OEMs are expected to start shipping new PCs with Windows 7 pre-installed on them around October 22nd.
Windows 7 Server (Windows Server 2008) and Client Release Roadmap

RTM Escrow: June 1 to 19, 2009
RTM Recall: June 22 to July 10, 2009
RTM Final Build Target (Gold Code): July 10, 2009
RTM Sign-Off: July 13, 2009
Official RTM: July 16-17, 2009
Official Release to OEM: Early August of 2009
Official Release to Retail: October 22, 2009