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Its official, Windows seven is now no longer RC, its RTM!  In a post by Brandon LeBlanc over at the windowsteamblog.com he says

“I am pleased to announce that Windows 7 has RTM’d!

As I mentioned previously, RTM officially happens only after sign-off occurs. What happens is a build gets designated as a RTM contender after going through significant testing and meeting our quality bar for RTM. Then, it goes though all the validation checks required for RTM including having all languages of that build completed. If all the validation checks have passed – sign-off for RTM can occur. Today after all the validation checks were met, we signed off and declared build 7600 as RTM.

Not only is RTM an important milestone for us – it’s also an important milestone for our partners. Today’s release is the result of hard work and collaboration with our partners in the industry to make Windows 7 a success. We delivered Windows 7 with a predictable feature set on a predictable timetable that allowed OEMs to focus on value and differentiation for their customers.

Our customers told us what they want (and expect) and we defined those specific experiences and then built features to support them (like HomeGroup and the Windows Taskbar enhancements). Our customers also told us that “fundamentals” on both the hardware and software side was extremely important. Windows 7 today runs great on the broadest array of hardware types ranging from netbooks to high-end gaming machines. We worked closely with OEMs so that their PCs delight customers with the new features in Windows 7.

Of course, today’s release is also the result of the amazing amount of feedback we received from the millions of people who tested Windows 7 – from Beta to RC. We actually had over 10 million people opt-in to the Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP). That’s a lot of people opting in to help us make Windows 7 a solid release.”

Now you can pre-order your copy of windows 7,take a look

http://www.microsoft.com/uk/windows/buy/offers/pre-order.aspx

Note that these are an “E Edition” of Windows 7

Q: What are the differences between standard editions of Windows 7 and E editions of Windows 7?

A: The only functional difference is that the Internet Explorer 8 component is not available.

Not to worry – we all use firefox right!?!?!?!

In an email I received yesterday from Microsoft, they are stopping the download of Windows 7 RC on August 20

see the extract from the email below

Notice: Downloads will end August 20

Thanks for all your help building Windows 7. We are on our way to the last big milestone: Release to Manufacturing. Starting on October 22, you’ll see it on PCs and store shelves. As we gear up for that, it’s time to wind down the Release Candidate testing program.

If you or a friend needs a download, you’ve got time. We’ll continue to offer the RC download until August 20, 2009. After that, you won’t be able to get the download, but if you have the bits, you can still install the RC and get a key if you need one. (To get a key, just go to the Downloads page and follow the instructions.)

Im currently playing with windows 7 on my laptop (and quite impressed too) but after providing a print screen of a ping of myNetwork scan results for Nokia E71 post , I noticed in the command line utility it said it was “Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7100]”

ok so wich is it – is it Windows 7 or Windows 6? Microsoft please make up your mind.