'''Development of [[Windows 7]]''' began when [[Windows Vista]] was released. Milestone 1, Milestone 2, and Milestone 3 were sent to Microsoft's partners in 2008. In October 2008, Microsoft gave build 6801 to PDC attendees and a public beta was released in January 2009.
The release candidate was available from April 30, 2009 for MSDN and Technet subscribers, and was released to the public on May 5, 2009. The final build of Windows 7 was released to manufacturing on July 22, 2009;<ref>{{cite web |url=http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2009/07/microsoft-windows-7-is-done-on-its-way-to-manufacturers.ars |title=Microsoft: Windows 7 is done, on its way to manufacturers |last=Protalinski |first=Emil |date=2009-07-22 |publisher=Ars Technica |accessdate=2009-07-22}}</ref> Technet and MSDN subscribers were able to download it on August 6. On October 22, the operating system was made generally available for public purchase.
==See also==
* [[Development of Windows 98]]
* [[Development of Windows XP]]
* [[Development of Windows Vista]]
* [[History of Microsoft Windows]]
==References==
{{reflist|2}}
==External links==
* [http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/ Windows 7 official website]
* [http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/category/w7itpro/ Windows 7 Beta Forums on Microsoft TechNet]
* [http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/dd361745.aspx?ITPID=tnforum/ Springboard Series for Windows 7 on Microsoft TechNet]
