Windows 7 RTM Retail Boxes Already in Stores

Windows 7 won’t become generally available until the second half of this month, but, despite this, the retail boxes of the operating system are already in stores. Microsoft is making sure that Windows 7 copies are available to retail outlets weeks before the latest iteration of the Windows client is scheduled to go live for the public. However, even if retailers already have stocks of Windows 7, the operating system won’t hit the shelves until the official launch date, namely October 22nd, 2009.

According to Engadget, at least one electronics store in Chicago already received boxed retail copies of Windows 7. As you can see from the picture included below, Microsoft has been shipping Windows 7 Ultimate, Home Premium and Professional SKUs to retailers as of the past week. However, the company is doing so, provided that the retail outlets stick to the Street Date and do not sell or display the products before October 22nd, 2009.

Microsoft released Windows 7 to manufacturing on July 22nd, 2009, and subsequently started making the gold build of the operating system available to various customer segments beginning with MSDN and TechNet subscribers on August 6th. General users will be the last to receive access to the successor of Windows Vista, but not before October 22nd. At this point in time, provided they are willing to pass themselves off as IT professionals, users with a Windows Live ID can grab a free trial version of Windows 7 Enterprise and run it for 90 days.

Otherwise, customers will have to wait for over two weeks in order to get their hands on the latest version of the Windows client. Users should expect to pay $199.99 for Windows 7 Home Premium (Full); $299.99 for Windows 7 Professional (Full); and $319.99 for Windows 7 Ultimate (Full). According to Microsoft, these will be the estimated prices for the upgrade flavors: Windows 7 Home Premium (Upgrade): $119.99; Windows 7 Professional (Upgrade): $199.99; and Windows 7 Ultimate (Upgrade): $219.99.

Windows 7 RTM Enterprise 90-Day Evaluation is available for download here.