Earlier today the guys over at GeekSmack.net "confirmed" that Windows 7 was set to RTM (release to manufacturing) on July 13, which also coincides with Wzor"s unconfirmed rumor last month. A few minutes ago sources close to the company, who wish to remain anonymous, have confirmed to Neowin that Windows 7 is indeed set to RTM on July 13.
After a year of furious beta testing and continuous leaks every other week, Microsoft is finally ready to give Windows 7 the green light to hit the market. Currently the Windows 7 team is working on polishing off the RTM build so that no show-stopper bugs are present in Windows 7. The date, July 13, also coincides with the kickoff of the Worldwide Partner Conference that is taking place in New Orleans.
Note: Don"t confuse RTM and GA (General Availability), as these are two totally different phases. RTM in a nutshell is typically the final build that we will see when Windows 7 hits GA later this year (Unless, of course, there"s a show-stopper bug found), but is released to manufacturers so they can work out any bugs the software may encounter with hardware devices. General availability is scheduled to launch on October 22, which will give the tech savvy world time to save up money.
So with that said TechNet, MSDN, and a few other partner connections should also be getting the RTM build on or shortly after July 13. So let the countdown begin!