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Windows 7 Released Early In UK
CNETNate writes "UK customers have been reporting that they received their copies of Windows 7 in the mail today. Currently the British postal service is threatening industrial action over pay, and planned walkouts may result in Windows 7 not being delivered on its release date. It is understood that Microsoft has agreed to let some retailers send out copies early to avoid disappointment, and to make the UK the first country in the world to have Windows 7 in customers' hands."
Not only the U.K.,
Windows 7 is already on sale in Israel.
Zoom Player Lead Dev.
I'll be honest; I'm not sure why there's so much delay before the general release anyhow. The RTM build was signed off on months ago, and went up for MSDN subscribers (a very small portion of the general public, but often people with very little connection to MS) only a few days later. At my school, through the MSDN Academic Alliance program (free MS software to endingeering students) we've been able to get Win7 for some weeks (and via http://dreamspark.com/ all students with a .edu email address can get Server 2008 R2, the server version of the Win7 release).
So... why so long before boxes hit shelves? It seems very odd to me.
There's no place I could be, since I've found Serenity...
Windows 7 has been available through amazon.de for some time now, and is being delivered as well. Nothing to see here, move along.
So... why so long before boxes hit shelves? It seems very odd to me.
Basically: getting enough manufactured to cover initial demand and getting those units shipped to retailers. Many retailers might have had boxed copies in their warehouses weeks ago but they will have signed a deal saying they won't make them available until the official release date in order for the public release to be coordinated in all territories.
As well as accounting for manufacturing processes and regional shipment delays, they will have also allowed extra time for other unexpected extensions to these delays and other issues. There would also be a final test phase of the activation infrastructure to fit in too, to ensure it can cope with the sudden glut of activity on, and shortly after, release day.
There is also co-ordination with OEMs to consider. They would not be happy with retail copies going out before they had chance to update and test their offerings in time for release date - yes MS has them over a barrel to a certain extent so could tell them to go hang if it wanted to, but this isn't the right climate to be annoying major customers in. There are probably other marketing reasons to pick a coordinated date near, but not at, the end of the year too.
Releasing to MSDN subscribers is much easier. Most are download-only subscriptions now so just put the ISOs on subscriptions.msdn.microsoft.com and there is no need for physical anything never mind coordinated physical anything. For subscribers who still get disks that is just a plain DVD (and/or ISO files on a plain DVD) with no fancy hologram label and no box or other additional materials. It is not expected that developers have to wait for coordinated retail release, so there are no OEM concerns to worry about (in fact the OEMs would prefer developers to have early access - it will reduce problems and returns at their end of the market if there is less stuff out there with compatibility issues by release day).
Minor correction to the story, the dispute isn't really about pay, it's about changes in working conditions. There are some aspects that cover what counts as overtime so pay is involved, but it's not just "we want more money".
- The absence of a directory up button in the explorer. No I don't want to use alt-up when I'm with my hand on the mouse and don't get me started on the horrifying location bar!
Wait, backspace doesn't work anymore?! (Not using Vista, can't verify.) Yes, the location bar is a pain, but clicking the empty region gets you to the editable path box – directory structure delimited by backslashes, as you wanted.
- When there's a number of windows, but none have focus, and one uses alt-f4, one immidiately gets a shutdown dialog. I just want to close my apps dammit!
Jesus Christ, and hitting "Esc" is too much trouble for you? It's not like this is unexpected or new behavior (as the other responder has pointed out).
You want a close-all hotkey? Never existed. You want it added? That's not a "fix", it's an addition.
- The absence of a 'Don't ask me for permission to confirm system changes until next session' option in UAC.
That's called "turning UAC off", and while discouraged it's entirely possible.
Alexander Peter Kristopeit bought his basement from his mommy for one dollar.