Windows 7 has not been released to manufacturing, despite reports to the contrary coming from a variety of third-party sources and from the Redmond company itself. The latest leaked build of the operating system, 6.1.7600.16384.win7_rtm.090710-1945, is, in this context, not the final development milestone for the next iteration of the Windows client. Confirmation of this was issued by both Microsoft itself and additional sources that had previously forecasted that Windows 7 would go gold on July 13th, 2009. While the software giant moved to set the record straight denying the RTM of Windows Vista's successors, non-Microsoft reports indicate that the company has taken Build 7600 beyond the 6.1.7600.16384.win7_rtm.090710-1945 mark.

On July 13th, two contradictory pieces of information were released by Microsoft. First off, there was the Windows blog, claiming that Windows 7 had not been signed off and that there was still work to be done. And then there were the words of Bill Veghte, senior vice president, Windows Business, from his keynote at the Worldwide Partner Conference 2009, which were originally:

“(...)it's such an exciting time. It is such an exciting time. This morning we will release Windows 7 to manufacturing, and we write that next chapter, we go after that opportunity. And when you think about the story of Windows, and you think about that story, and you all have written that history. You think about Windows, and over the world you've got over a billion people, over a billion people, depending on what you do. More people speak the language of Windows than speak the English language. And that opportunity, and that value, that incredible simplicity, that broad a set of choices, that's what you've done.”

On the subsequent day, Microsoft altered the transcript, which now reads: “it's such an exciting time. It is such an exciting time. This month we will release Windows 7 to manufacturing, and we write that next chapter, we go after that opportunity.” The following clarification was also posted: “Editor’s note – July 14, 2009 – Bill Veghte’s remarks have been updated to correct Windows 7 release to manufacturing timing information due to a transcription error.”

Windows 7 Build 6.1.7600.16384.win7_rtm.090710-1945 was compiled on July 10, 2009 as the build string reveals. Definitely not the RTM development milestone of Windows 7, since Microsoft has also wrapped Build 6.1.7600.16384.win7_rtm.090710-1945 on July 10 as well and 6.1.7600.16385.win7_rtm.090713-1255 on July 13th, according to Wzor. Still, the evolution of Windows 7 Build 7600 indicates that while Microsoft will modify the build string for the gold release of the operating system, 7600 will stay in place and will be indicative of the RTM.