October 2009 will mark the general availability of Windows 7 at a global scale. Starting on October 22, 2009, Microsoft will release the next iteration of the Windows client in no less than 36 different localized versions across just as many markets around the world. In this regard, the Redmond company explained that the GA of Windows 7 would come in two separate stages. The first will take place on October 22, as previously announced, and is planned to involve almost half of the localized flavors of the operating system.

According to Microsoft, the English, Spanish, Japanese, German, French, Italian, Dutch, Russian, Polish, Brazilian Portuguese, Korean, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese and Chinese (Hong Kong) languages of Windows 7 will all be offered to consumers in their respective markets on October 22.

“The end result of the work to improve globalization and localization quality is reflected in the announcement that all fully localized releases of Windows 7 will be available within two weeks of the initial release wave with all languages available in October. We hope (and believe!) end users will find the overall quality of these releases to be the best ever,” revealed Julie Bennett, representing the global Windows development and localization teams.

As Bennett indicated, Microsoft will follow the first wave of Windows 7 releases with a second one, by the end of October 2009. At that time, Windows 7 in the following languages will hit the shelves: Turkish, Czech, Portuguese, Hungarian, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Finnish, Greek, Ukrainian, Romanian, Arabic, Lithuanian, Bulgarian, Estonian, Slovenian, Hebrew, Thai, Croatian, Serbian Latin, and Latvian.

“Microsoft has been a global software company for a long time and has always put a lot of effort into engineering our products for a global customer base. It is also an area where the engineering is complex—probably a lot more complex than many might think—and one where we are always trying to learn and improve. Building global software is a responsibility for everyone on the team,” revealed Steven Sinofsky, senior vice president, Windows and Windows Live Engineering Group.