Windows 7 to be released to business licensees in July

Business users who have purchased volume licenses with Software Assurance contracts will receive Windows 7 by the end of July. This was first discovered when Russian enthusiast Deeper2K tweeted a picture of a newsletter that was sent to Russian reseller partners by Microsoft.

In addition, Deeper2K also told Mary-Jo Foley from ZDNet that customers who buy Software Assurance before August 31st will have the rights to upgrade to Windows 7 on PCs they purchased starting August 1, 2008. Those who are eligible under the promotion will receive 15% off the retail cost of Windows 7.

Microsoft originally did not announce that Windows 7 would be offered to business users at an earlier time than the official release date, although they did release Windows Vista two months earlier to business users. A similar strategy for Windows 7 would have been expected since Microsoft is calling the operating system a major release.

A significant majority of operating system sales by Microsoft come from enterprise sales. Successful enterprise integration will prove to be extremely important for Microsoft, as it will affect the way millions of users perceive Windows 7 in the office. Microsoft has put a significant amount of effort to ensure that its enterprise customers will see the benefit of Windows 7 through featuers such as BranchCache, DirectAccess, AppLocker, BitLocker features, and Windows XP Mode.

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. Read the rest at windows7center.com.