Microsoft originally promised that Windows 7 would be released within three years of Vista—which would put the release date in January 2010—but now the folks at Redmond have confirmed that Windows 7 (and Server 2008 R2) will officially be ready for the 2009 holiday season. We'd already heard plenty of rumors regarding the Windows 7 release date, and while almost everyone was positive that the shiny new operating system would be available in 2009, this is the first confirmation from Microsoft. [Ars Technica]
