Microsoft is in the final stages of the development process for the next iteration of the Windows client. With RTM planned by the end of July 2009 and worldwide General Availability scheduled for October 22, the Redmond company has unveiled a set of initiatives designed to build up to Windows 7 hitting the shelves. Japanese users, on top of being among the very first worldwide to be able to pre-order Windows 7 Home Premium and Professional at special discounted prices, have the “I Run Windows 7” initiative available.

Fact is that, given the Silverlight content integrated with the “I Run Windows 7” website, it's rather difficult to interpret the campaign because of the limitations of current machine translation tools. However, “I Run Windows 7” is designed as an effort to let end users voice their opinion on the successor of Windows Vista. The website is set up to offer current users of Windows 7 a chance to provide their feedback via badges that Microsoft will put together with their scores.

From the main page, users running Windows Vista or earlier will be redirected to the Windows 7 Release Candidate download page. Those already on Windows 7 will be granted access to a feedback form. Users will be required to provide a few details about themselves, such as a username and the age, and then indicate which is, in their opinion, the most noteworthy feature of Windows 7. In this regard they can choose from a variety of options, from performance to compatibility, to video standards support.

But most importantly, they can review Windows 7 with scores between 1 and 5 for the following categories: comfort, ease of use, aesthetics, fun, advanced, stability and compatibility. The form also allows users to deliver a Windows 7-related message to the world, but also to comment on the operating system. Microsoft also offers the possibility for the Windows 7 review/scores badges created to link to a specific website/blog run by end users.