An early version of Windows 7, Microsoft’s follow-up to its ho-hum Vista operating software, may appear at a developers conference in mid-January.
Developers attending the 11-city one-day MSDN Developer Conferences will either be mailed or will receive the new software Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer touts as “Windows Vista, a lot better.”
Microsoft has said it would unveil Windows 7 in 2009.
In a note to its developer network, Microsoft said Windows Beta 1 will be mailed to those attending the first three conferences in Houston (Dec. 9), Orlando, Fla. (Dec. 11) and Atlanda, Ga. (Dec.16).
“All attendees will receive a Windows 7 Beta 1 DVD” for conferences Jan. 13 in Chicago and Minneapolis, according to Computerworld.
In October, Microsoft distributed alpha versions of Windows 7 at the Professional Developers Conference in Los Angeles.
Apple in November let slip it plans to release Mac OS X 10.6, codenamed “Snow Leopard” during the first quarter of 2009.
Ed Sutherland is a veteran technology journalist who first heard of Apple when they grew on trees, Yahoo was run out of a Stanford dorm and Google was an unknown upstart. Since then, Sutherland has covered the whole technology landscape, concentrating on tracking the trends and figuring out the finances of large (and small) technology companies.
