Windows 7 Build 7279: I'm Calling Fake

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Update: Definitely fake. Don't worry about wasting your time reading the rest of this post. lol.

A Microsoft community forum member by the name of Adr2ien has posted 2 supposed screen shots of a build 7279 with the following build string:

7279.winmain.090627-1900

To make the story of this curious build even better, in the screen shots, he's got a Microsoft Connect window pulled up which shows this build as being available... but only to just him as no one else seems to have this build showing up for them in their Connect. Even BETTER is to acknowledge Microsoft's reasons for placing such a build on their Connect portal, which are..........right. None.

Someone needs to let Adr2ien know how Microsoft's back end works with Connect. Anyway, in the very slim chance that this is a real build, I'll be glad to eat my words of it leaks. Otherwise, this post serves to hopefully denounce yet another attempt to dupe the Microsoft community. And now for the screen shots:




-Stephen

Windows 7 RTM Candidate Build 7264 x86 and x64 Leak!

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Caveat: Please take into account that this is an RTM candidate build which was rejected due to a showstopper bug being found. If you choose to install this build, I would highly recommend you don't fully trust your data with it. Now with that out of the way...

I've been waiting for one of these RTM candidate builds to leak and finally, we have one! A forum by the name of VinylZine somehow got a hold of the ISOs for both x86 and x64 client. It's amazing how this stuff turns up sometimes. If it wasn't for WZor posting about it, I would've never found this site by its own accord. Anyway, here are torrents for each ISO along with their respective extra info:

MICROSOFT.WINDOWS.7.BUILD.7264.WIN7_RTM.X86.ENGLISH.DVD-VINYLZINE
7264.0.090622-1900_x86fre_client_en-us_Retail_Ultimate-GRMCULFRER_EN_DVD.iso
SIZE: 2,503,360,512 byte
CRC: 0B916606
MD5: 44F04E9E5762714C3D75A3C9C88DE251
SHA1: 59BA011913B00A820A1E002B9BEDEF139AE15B07

x86 Torrent Download: Click Here

MICROSOFT.WINDOWS.7.BUILD.7264.WIN7_RTM.X64.ENGLISH.DVD-VINYLZINE
7264.0.090622-1900_x64fre_client_en-us_Retail_Ultimate-GRMCULXFRER_EN_DVD.iso
SIZE: 3,226,130,432 byte
CRC: 05F87B79
MD5: 670818DB149170C652414E1F75E9390C
SHA1: C6FE386E97944511820291F515A8CBB3DDA329A6

x64 Torrent Download: Click Here

-Stephen

Windows 7 Build 7265: The Road to RTM Continues...

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Well, today is the 26th; the day Neowin's source told them Windows 7 would RTM. There's still a chance that it might have, but if so, then Microsoft really cranked out some bug-fixing as WZor has posted a new RTM candidate build string:

6.1.7265.0.win7_rtm.090624-1905

I'm definitely getting impatient myself, but I'm glad to see they're continuing to iron out the bugs. I would much rather continue to see these builds and know that I'm going to end up with a stable OS than land a build with a slew of caveats and noted upgrades I need to immediately download. Anywho...

More as it comes in...

Source: WZor

-Stephen

Windows 7 Build 7264: The Road to RTM Continues...

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WZor has posted a new RTM candidate build string:

6.1.7264.0.win7_rtm.090622-1900

Unlike the 7264 build string I posted about the other day (which was determined to be fake), this build is the latest candidate on the road to RTM. Along with the build string, WZor posted what are supposedly team progress bug charts/logs:





If those charts are accurate, then Windows 7 appears it definitely will not RTM on the 26th as is potentially implied by the Windows 7 Upgrade site.

More as it comes in!

Source: WZor.net

-Stephen

Windows 7 Upgrade: Going Live June 26?

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A poster on the Neowin.net forum posted something fairly interesting earlier. Check it out:



As I mentioned in my RTM post a couple of days ago, we have 3 credible sites who have each received different information from their sources in regards to RTM. Neowin heard it would happen on June 26, which would fall right in line with the screen shot above. As we all know, though, plans can change overnight within the software giant, so the 26th as an RTM date - while credible at the time Neowin posted - could be outdated information at this point. It's an interesting development either way.

The wait for RTM continues...

Reference: Windows 7 Upgrade Site

-Stephen

PS - Thanks for the link, Charon. ;)

Microsoft's Windows 7 Entertainment Center: Part 2

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About a month ago, I ran across a picture of an internal Windows 7 MCE box with a custom Windows 7 case. Doing a bit of research, I noticed it was being lugged around to various conferences/events... or maybe more than one of these was made. Regardless, I just happened upon a few more pictures to add to the collection. As I noted in my last post, I have no idea how this would be useful for anything more than demonstrative purposes... or perhaps an expensive entertainment system front-end. Anyway, on with the pictures (click on them for high-resolution versions):







If nothing else, the case certainly looks cool! =)

Update: An anonymous commenter left a link where you can view the specs for this hardware on the vendor's site (customized Windows 7 case, not included) here.

-Stephen

Windows 7 RTM: Scheduled for July 13, 2009!

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WZor has just posted an update regarding the signing-off of Windows 7 RTM! Here is the roadmap to RTM:



Basically, between now and July 10, 2009, Microsoft will be preparing the build containing all of the SKU's which will be sent out to partners first, possibly Connect and MSDN/Technet subscribers next, and finally customers when it hits the store shelves! Then, on July 13, 2009, Windows 7 will officially be COMPLETED! This is bittersweet for me as I was hoping to have an RTM build to install soon, but I suppose a couple more weeks isn't too long to wait. ;)

WZor also noted that employees will have access to the RTM build on July 10th, so be on the lookout for the RTM build shortly thereafter. Likewise, in regards to what the RTM build number will be, WZor says their sources report it will most likely be rounded to 7300.

So, the RTM build that leaks may look something like be:

6.1.7300.0.winmain.??????-????

More as it comes in!

Source: WZor

---------------UPDATE---------------UPDATE---------------UPDATE---------------

WinFuture.de is reporting today that sources close to them say Windows 7 will RTM on June 29, 2009. As far as who is right and who is wrong, both of these sources are credible, so they're both hearing information from people out of Microsoft; it's not as if one of these sites are lying to everyone. And just to add to the mix, Neowin.net reported on June 16, 2009 that their sources indicated an RTM date of June 26, 2009! Again, all credible sites, so the difference probably lies in which of their sources has the most recent information. Both WZor and WinFuture have posted their RTM dates today, so I guess we'll see what happens. Just to recap, here are the RTM dates as they've been reported by 3 credible sites:

Neowin.net: June 26, 2009
WinFuture.de: June 29, 2009
WZor.net: July 13, 2009

Place your bets, everyone!

-Stephen

Windows 8 to Contain New Networking Features

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With that said, I just ran across the LinkedIn profile of a Microsoft PM intern who has the following responsibilities written in his profile:

Evaluating and collating technical and business requirements for developing new networking features in Windows 8.

Designing features, functional specification and prototype for Windows 8.

Perhaps the most notable networking feature in Windows 7 is the addition of HomeGroup. If you're unfamiliar with the HomeGroup feature, you can read an extensive article about it on the official Engineering Windows 7 blog here. I can only imagine that Microsoft will be looking to follow suit and make home networking even easier in Windows 8. Along with the specifications they're currently writing, I'm sure feedback of the current networking features in Windows 7 will play an integral role in exactly what goes into Windows 8's networking features.

Personally, I have no need for anything networking-wise from my OS, so perhaps those of you whose focus tends to be networking-centric can shed some light on what you would personally like to see changed/added to/removed from Windows 8.

Reference: Aditya Malhotra's LinkedIn Profile

-Stephen

PS - As obvious as it may seem for a feature to come down the proverbial Windows pike, I assume nothing. This post is a direct result of that observance.

Windows 7 Build 7264?

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I'm hearing murmurs around the community of a build 7264 which was supposedly compiled to fix a showstopper bug discovered in build 7263. The rumored build string is:

6.1.7264.0.win7_rtm.090620-1900

Whether or not it's legit, I'm not sure. I haven't seen it confirmed by any sources I know or trust, so I'm going to take it with a grain of salt for the moment - as should you. As far as potential evidence for it being fake, check out this coincidence:

The last 3 RTM candidates have had a compile time of 1900 hours and they've all been compiled within 2 days of one another on the 15th, 17th, and 19th, respectively:

6.1.7261.0.win7_rtm.090615-1900
6.1.7262.0.win7_rtm.090617-1900
6.1.7263.0.win7_rtm.090619-1900

So, basically, it would be extremely easy to have made up such a build string for this supposed 7264 build, which follows the same formula; 2 days apart, 1900 hours. Regardless, if that build is legit, I'm curious to know what the showstopper bug was that was found... and why it wasn't discovered in any of the previous RTM candidates. Perhaps it would be due to new code created between builds 7262 and 7263 to fix bugs from previous compiles. But that's if this build string is the real deal in the first place. =)

Anyway, more when it comes in!

-Stephen

Windows 7 RTM Build 7263?

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WZor has written a pretty lengthy article that I can't translate at the moment (I'm over at my mom's house for dinner... blogging, lol), but the header says that Microsoft engineers are signing off on the RTM build! Apparently, the new build to be signed off on (but currently just an RTM candidate) is:

6.1.7263.0.win7_rtm.090619-1900

So far, it's the 20th and WZor noted that the RTM build would leak after the 19th... but just how long after is the question. Will 7263 be THE RTM build? According to WZor, it's likely... well, more than likely, but we'll see what happens. The next 24 hours should be interesting! Maybe we'll have an RTM build of Windows 7 to install on our machines before the end of the weekend. =) What do you think?

..................................................................................

UPDATE: Thank you a great deal to Ilia Jerebtsov, the first commenter of this post, for providing a summarized translation of what all is written on the WZor page regarding this build. This is what Ilia has translated for us:

"The post says that Microsoft had lengthy voting and discussions about which build to make RTM (7260, 61 or 62), but in the end neither build got the required votes to pass. So they decided to take the 7263 build as a new candidate for RTM. A lot of the post after that is a Angels and Demons parody.

Further on, they clarify on their previous statements about the June 19 date. The gist of it, and the most important part, is that they state that the RTM can be expected after the 19th, and not on the 19th. They believe that the 19th is a key date, after which they possibly might find out which release was selected, and its technical info.

Since none of the first three builds managed to pass voting, it will be voted on again in two days, and this might repeat itself all the way up to July 13th. However, they're confident that it'll be decided before the end of June.

About whether the 7263 build will leak, they say that the number of people with access to it is currently extremely limited. All builds of all versions and languages are done on the same day, and that's a lot of data that none of the people at Microsoft will receive until automated testing has passed.

Even if this build leaks, before anything's "signed" there can be no guarantees that that'll be the final.

They say not to get any fantasies of it coming out on CONNECT or MSDN earlier at least another 2-3 weeks after the build is decided."

Thanks again, Ilia! I really appreciate you taking the time to write all of that. =)

-Stephen