From Wikipedia:
"Windows 7 was released to manufacturing on July 22, 2009,with general retail availability set for October 22, 2009, less than three years after the release of its predecessor, Windows Vista."
I think Windows 7 is Microsoft's best version yet.
It's very nice looking — a huge improvement in that category from WinXP.
It runs fast on moderate hardware — single-core machines with 1G of RAM should have no problem, unlike the RAM hungry beast Vista. Of course, more RAM is better, and if you're buying a new machine, make sure you get the 64-bit version, and no less than 6GB of RAM.
It's less expensive than previous Microsoft OSes. In fact, were you to buy a new computer today with Vista on it, most manufacturers are supplying Win7 for free or a very modest shipping cost.
I recommend anyone who is struggling with Vista — back up your data and re-format with Win7 as soon as you can!
If you're still running WinXP and you have a PC that's less than 3 or 4 years old with at least 1GB of RAM, chances are Win7 will run pretty well for you, too. You should at least evaluate it.
If you have access to a corporate VAR license, you may already be eligible to download the RTM (Released To Manufacturing) version of Win7 and install it.
On the other hand, Apple's Snow Leopard is due out Real Soon Now, too, and it looks to be a phenomenal upgrade as well.
