At Microsoft TechEd North America 2009, Microsoft today announced that Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 will both be available to customers in time for the holiday shopping season. Previously, Microsoft's official stance was that Windows 7 would be available no later than three years after the general availability of Windows Vista, meaning January 30, 2010. Based on the steady development of the OS though, many have predicted that Windows 7 would arrive earlier. Windows Server 2008 R2 was expected to arrive sometime after Windows 7, but now Microsoft has noted that the server OS will actually arrive in the same timeframe as its client counterpart. The Release Candidate builds for both operating systems went public last week. More at; http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2009/05/windows-7-and-server-2008-r2-will-be-ready-by-holiday-2009.ars
