Here, I’ve condensed Walt Mossberg’s latest column for you:

Microsoft will finally release a new version of Windows [to replace] the deeply disappointing Windows Vista [and] the sturdy, 2001-vintage Windows XP …

[For XP users] the upgrade process … will be frustrating, tedious and labor-intensive … painful … you will have to undertake a long, multi-step process … And the pain doesn’t end there …

[Y]ou’re likely facing a painful process should you choose to transition it to Windows 7.

OK, we get it. Painful. It’s pretty predictable Vista-bashing, although calling Windows XP “sturdy” is a nice rhetorical flourish. For some reason the column doesn’t include the usual exhortation to buy a Mac. I’m sure it was just an editing error.

For years, Walt has been bad-mouthing Windows Vista and counseling people to stick with XP if possible. So anyone who followed his advice is stuck with the “frustrating, tedious, labor-intensive, painful” upgrade process. Whereas those who purchased Windows Vista can expect the following experience, as narrated by Mossberg:

By contrast, if you’re using Vista, the upgrade to Windows 7 should be a fairly easy, straightforward process. Because the new version shares most of the underlying guts of Vista, it installs itself on your current machine relatively quickly and smoothly, preserving all your files, folders, settings and programs. In a test of this process earlier this year, using a pre-release version of Windows 7, I upgraded a Vista laptop with no problems and little effort in about an hour.

“No problems, little effort.” Imagine that.

My office definitely feels calm right now. I’m looking at the very first batch of page proofs for Windows 7 Inside Out and preparing notes and drafts for articles I’ll post after Windows 7 is publicly available. And catching up on some very important projects I’ve been putting off because, well, there are only so many hours in a day.

I suspect it’s the calm before the storm, so I’m taking advantage of the opportunity to clear the decks (literally, in some parts of this office) in preparation for the arrival of a released copy of Windows 7. One that I can install and expect to use for years. One that I will review, thoroughly, on as wide a variety of hardware as I can muster.

I have been using Windows 7 day in and day out for more than six months. Throughout the duration of the Windows 7 beta test, I’ve been playing Noah with computers, putting them together two by two. In each pair, one machine is a workhorse, the other is a lab rat. Right now, I have two desktop PCs (a Dell XPS420 and an HP Pavilion Elite m9400), two CableCARD-equipped Media Centers (also a Dell and an HP, from the previous generation of the same series), three notebooks (Dell, Sony, Lenovo), and a Dell Latitude XT multi-touch and pen-enabled PC. There’s a small-footprint HP machine in the living room with a Blu-ray drive, dual-booting Windows Vista and Windows 7.

I also have an ancient (vintage-2003) Windows XP machine and two installations of Ubuntu 9.04 and a brand-new Mac, so I can do some honest comparisons.

When the RTM code finally arrives and I finally get to update all of those machines, I should have enough experience to write with confidence and provide some genuinely useful information.

Mary Jo Foley reports that Microsoft bigwig Bob Muglia told an audience at the Worldwide Partner Conference that Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 “will RTM together in the coming few days.” That’s consistent with every single official and unofficial message I’m hearing from Redmond. Sometime in the second half of July, which starts in a few days.

Brandon LeBlanc has an excellent update at the Windows Team Blog, including this welcome news:

MSDN & TechNet Subscribers […] will be able to download the final version of Windows 7 a few weeks after we announce RTM.

[…]

MSDN and TechNet subscribers, as well as Volume License customers will have access to product keys (PIDs) when Windows 7 is made available to them. Product keys for Windows 7 RTM will be different than the product keys used for Windows 7 Beta and the release candidate. Windows 7 Beta or RC product keys *will not* work with Windows 7 RTM.

If your job involves Windows, you should have a TechNet subscription. If you’re a Windows developer, you should have an MSDN subscription.

Meanwhile, the transcript of Bill Veghte’s keynote from WPC yesterday gave me a brief start this morning. I practically did a spit take when I read the opening sentences and saw this: “This morning we will release Windows 7 to manufacturing.”

How could I have missed that? Answer: I didn’t. I watched the video replay of Veghte’s remarks and heard what he really said:

This month we will release Windows 7 to manufacturing.

“Oh,” as Emily Litella might have said. “That’s different.”

Moral of the story: Don’t believe everything you read.

For another example of why that advice is so important, check out my report at ZDNet on how our elite technical press totally botched a big story yesterday:

The echo chamber misreads another Windows 7 survey

Adding: In the comments, Krystalo notes that Emil Protalinski at Ars Technica flagged this late last night in an update to a post from earlier in the day. The Ars update gets it wrong, in my opinion, by concluding, “It looks like someone sent out an old draft copy of a transcript for the keynote…” The implication, of course, is that Veghte was supposed to make the announcement but it was delayed at the last minute and Microsoft forgot to make the necessary edit. If you follow the link I provide above, however, it’s pretty clear that this is in fact a transcript (you think all of the Q&A was that scripted?), prepared after the fact by a professional transcribing service that got one word wrong. Early in my professional career I edited transcripts of interviews for a university; I know how easy it is to get a word or two wrong.

Update 14-July 11AM Pacific: The transcript has now been corrected and this note added to the top: “Editor’s note – July 14, 2009 – Bill Veghte’s remarks have been updated to correct Windows 7 release to manufacturing timing information due to a transcription error.”

The rumor mill is buzzing over the purported news that Windows 7 has been released to manufacturing. Long Zheng has gone so far as to put an emphatic YES on his new website: http://haswindows7rtmed.com

As evidence, he (and others) cite the presence on several underground file-sharing sites of Windows 7 build 7600.16384.090710-1945.

A little history might help put this build number (and the accompanying speculation) in perspective.

Continue reading “Speculating over the Windows 7 RTM date and build numbers” →

Apologies in advance if I break anything. Send me a note or leave a comment if you see something that doesn’t look right.

Well, the manuscript is complete, anyway. Carl, Craig, and I have several more weeks of tech editing and page proofs to look forward to, plus one final round of fact-checking (and possibly some replacement screen shots) after the code is released to manufacturing.

The book should be on store shelves before the end of September. You can pre-order your copy today at Amazon.com and be first to get a copy when it arrives.

 

Pre-order Windows 7 Inside Out

And now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some normal life (and some blogging) to catch up with.

Update: This offer is now expired. The links below now go to pages where the upgrade packages are offered at their full retail prices.

Yesterday, Microsoft announced pricing information for Windows 7. (You can read all about it in my post at ZDNet: Microsoft unveils ‘screaming deals’ for Windows 7.)

The big news for would-be upgraders in the United States is that you can pre-order Windows 7 Home Premium or Windows 7 Professional at a significant discount right now, and have the product shipped to you on October 22, when it’s officially released.

The discount is 50% or more over the normal estimated retail price (ERP) of the two mainstream consumer editions. In the United States, you’ll be able to buy a Windows 7 Home Premium upgrade for $50 or get the Windows 7 Professional upgrade for $100.

At Microsoft’s website, you can find links to 12 online dealers that are participating in this promotion. If you want to buy from Amazon.com, you can use one of the links below and order directly (full disclosure: I make a commission on each sale through these links):

Windows 7 Store

Here are the links to the software:

Windows7 Home Premium Upgrade

Windows7 Professional Upgrade

You’re eligible for this special upgrade pricing on any PC that currently has a licensed copy of any edition of Windows XP or Windows Vista.

Questions? Ask away in the comments below.

Microsoft has now opened beta testing for its new Microsoft Security Essentials Beta.

I wrote about it last week at ZDNet and continue to be favorably impressed. It works on Windows XP (SP2 or later), Windows Vista, and Windows 7. You must be in the United States, Israel, or Brazil to sign up.

If you try it, leave a comment and let me know what you like/don’t like.

Update: Well, that was fast. Roughly 24 hours later, all 75,000 slots in the beta group are filled. Of course, if you can get your hands on a copy of the software you can still install and use it.

Given all the advance notice (and even a four-month delay) you’d think that Microsoft would have been fully prepared for the transition to all-digital broadcasts in the U.S.

Wrong. I’m not the only Media Center user who suddenly lost several over-the-air HD channels last Friday. I’ve got details over at ZDNet. If you’re a Media Center user and you’ve been affected, please leave a comment there:

Microsoft fumbles the digital TV transition

I’ve got a little more technology than I need in the office right now, so I’m putting some PCs and monitors up for sale. Details here.

I’ll be updating this list regularly and will probably have several notebooks and desktop PCs plus some miscellaneous peripherals available over the next few days or weeks.