Microsoft’s “translucent” and mum communication strategy on the actual development milestones of Windows 7 as the operating system advances in the development process should in no way be considered a mark of inactivity. In fact, the Redmond company is compiling a multitude of interim Windows 7 builds, as it evolves from Beta to Release Candidate. Releases such as 7022, 7048 and 7057 bear testimony to the progress Windows 7 is making towards RC. The latest build to make it, even if a little bit, out of Redmond, is Windows 7 Build 7055 winmain.090303-2130.

Yes, at this point in time both the 32-bit and the 64-bit flavors of Windows 7 Build 7057 are available for download in the wild via BitTorrent trackers, and Build 7055 in fact precedes the latest leaked release. Still, it does manage to offer some valuable information. Windows 7 Build 7055 is incontestable, the screenshot included with this article has been provided by Will Volker, a Microsoft evangelist who installed the development milestone on an ASUS 1000HE netbook.

“For the installation I used Windows 7 Professional. (...) The Windows 7 installation (I used a build newer than the beta build 7000) went fast. After about 40 minutes and a few reboots, the system was up and running. I deleted the old Windows XP installation directory to recover the lost space. Aero Glass works like a charm. Windows 7 is very responsive. Still have to install all the apps. That’ll be fun. The experience index is 2.3. Not too bad for a netbook, I suppose,” Volker stated.

Judging from the full build string, Windows 7 Build 7055 was compiled on March 3, 2009, just three days ahead of Build 7057, which was wrapped up on March 5, given the fact that it is tagged 7057.0.x86fre.winmain.090305-2000. This gives out a unique insight into the Windows 7 development process. In the context in which builds are being compiled at a couple of days distance from each other, Microsoft is bound to have produced a consistent volume of interim development milestones for the successor of Windows Vista. At the same time, as Windows 7 Build 7057 was finalized on March 5, the company might have already long left behind Build 7061, which was reported as also having been compiled.

“The out of the box experience with Windows 7 is pretty awesome. Only one driver was and still is missing. Haven’t looked into which device driver is missing. I downloaded the trackpad driver from the ASUS website and installed it over the existing standard Windows PS/2 mouse driver. Now it is possible to use gestures to zoom, scroll and rotate,” Volker added.