After testing both Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 for sometime I have grown somewhat fond of the beta fish background on Windows 7. Windows Server 2008 R2 however doesn’t have this theme although you can install the backgrounds from Windows 7 into Windows Server 2008 R2 with ease.

On a machine running Windows 7 simply copy all the files from the following folder to the same folder on the Windows Server 2008 R2 machine.

C:\Windows\Web\Wallpaper\

Given the Windows 7 desktop background of the beta fish is there because the operating system is in beta it could go away in the RC and RTM builds. You might therefore want to make a copy somewhere and when the RC and RTM builds are available simply place it back into the aforementioned folder.

Over the past few months we’ve covered most, if not, all of the rumors that have been circulating around the blogosphere. We’ve decided to put them all together in one post, and see if we can draw any conclusions from it. Well first off, we are quite certain that Windows 7 will come out in 2009:

• Asus CEO’s mouth slips and mentions deploying Windows 7 on EEEs in the second half of 2009…

Then a couple of Asian industry experts tip off ZDNet Taiwan, saying we will see a release after October 2009. Contrary to an article from CNet suggesting that the release date will be pushed back due to harsh economic times, the experts believe the release date will not be pushed back at all.

• Asian sources say Windows 7 to be released October 2009 at the earliest

Ray from bink.nu received several tips from colleagues suggesting a September release. This would mean the RTM would come out at least a few months before. Interestingly, Q4 2009 for Microsoft is June 30th, so whoever’s been spreading around the rumor about a Q4 finish…?

• More rumors: Windows 7 RTM for June/July, Launch in September?

Just a few days ago, the CEO of a Taiwanese OEM called Compal tells us straight up that he thinks Windows 7 will be out September/October “according to current planning”

• Compal electronics claims Windows 7 should be out late September or early October

And finally here are some rumors about the Windows 7 Upgrade Program that should have some connection with the release dates.

• Windows 7 Upgrade Program start date shifts to June 28 (orignially July 1st)

We’re not quite sure why the upgrade program would be pushed back a few days from the original, but other than that, most clues from these rumors point to a September/October release. Upgrade programs typically start a few months before the actual product release.

When do you think Windows 7 will be released?

Related posts:

1. Compal electronics claims Windows 7 should be out late September or early October Either Microsoft is really bad at keeping rumors, or…
2. Asian sources say Windows 7 to be released October 2009 at the earliest An interview CNet held with Microsoft a month ago created…
3. More rumors: Windows 7 RTM for June/July, Launch in September? It seems like a couple of people already knew a…

Nisha Taylor was just about to put her beloved T-Mobile Sidekick in her bag. She thought the cell phone would be safer there than in her pocket. In the few seconds it took for the 18-year-old to unwind the string loop that held the Sidekick to her wrist, someone else eyed the device and made off with it. “He just runs and he hits the phone,” Taylor said. “The string pops. The phone goes up in the air. He catches it and he runs.” Although the Sidekicks aren’t among the country’s best-selling phones, they might be the most stolen ones.

I’ve blogged about the the demise of Dr Dobbs Journal as a print publication before. As I am a subscriber, the promised replacement in form of an issue of Information Week with Dr Dobbs report tacked on recently turned up in the mail. No emails regarding a new digital edition so far, though. I hope these emails havn’t been caught in a spam filter, so if anyone has heard anything regarding a new digital issue, please let me know.

Anyway, back to the Dr Dobbs Report section in Information Week. Unfortunately the section – which is about virtualization – seems to be targeted at the same audience that the rest of IW is targeted at, namely CIOs and the like. I diligently read through it but there was only very little in there that I’d consider useful for a working programmer like me. That is a pity as the normal Dr Dobbs always contained a few articles that I found interesting, even if they weren’t necessarily applicable to my day to day work. It doesn’t come as a great surprise, but obviously I’m not massively pleased to have yet another good programming publication pulled out from underneath me and either not replaced at all (as with the C/C++ Users Journal – I don’t think the promised additional content materialised in Dr Dobbs) or replaced with something rather unsuitable.

I’m hoping that there will be a digital issue soon and that it’s back to its usual quality, otherwise I guess that this will be another subscription that goes into the bin. For the time being I’ll be sticking to Communications of the ACM, ACM Queue and c’t for my CS, programming and hardware fix…

While I can understand from a business point of view that magazines which do not generate enough revenue to make enough of a profit to stay alive have to be closed down, I’m beginning to wonder where developers will get information about new concepts from – book sales are down, there are fewer programming related magazines, etc. I don’t really think that blogs are the answer to that either – there is only so much you can put into an blog post unless you’re Steve Yegge, and while it’s a good way to pick up fixes for immediate problems from blogs, Stack Overflow and through the usual Google searches, I think we’re losing a valuable distribution mechanism here.