It seems that the email on “translucency” sent out by Steven Sinofsky, Senior Vice President, Windows and Windows Live Engineering Group, back in 2007, got lost in translation on its way to Microsoft China. Remember the leaked images featuring the new Windows 7 boxes?

Images with the concepts of the packaging for the retail copies of Windows 7 got leaked in the first half of May, featuring fresh visual interpretations of the Windows logo and a new logo built from the “7” number, a non-subtle reference to Windows 7, Microsoft's next iteration of the Windows client. It has already been confirmed that the box artwork is real, but now the new Windows 7 logo has started popping out on the Internet, with the software giant managing to offer official confirmation of its validity.

Microsoft China shamelessly displays the new 7 logo on its nook of the Windows website reserved for the successor of Windows Vista (via Long Zheng). As you can see from the screenshots attached to this article, the design matches perfectly the artwork on the Windows 7 boxes. Microsoft China has obviously jumped the gun when it comes down to publishing Windows 7-related artwork, because Sinofsky & Co. have failed to breathe a word so far as to the designs that would accompany Windows 7 to the market.

In addition to the Chinese Windows 7 website, Microsoft 7 is already using various promotion materials, including banners, DVD covers for Windows 7 Release Candidate Build 7100, and DVD artwork with the new “7” logo (via PCBeta). In this context, it is only a matter of time before the rest of Microsoft follows and unveils the official Windows 7 retail boxes along with visual concepts that will help define “7” for the consumers. But so far, the Redmond-based company is keeping mum on the matter, although the silence serves it no purpose any longer.

32-bit and 64-bit Windows 7 (Release Candidate) RC Build 7100.0.090421-1700 is available for download here.