A message from Corporate Vice Presidents, Allison Watson and Tami Reller We are very excited to say that tomorrow marks the final major milestone of the product development cycle for
Windows 7 and
Windows Server 2008 R2. With general availability, these products are now available for sale through broad distribution and all available channels.
The Windows 7 release is an especially important moment for our partners and Microsoft. We're proud to say that this release has had the broadest and deepest level of partner engagement of any operating system in Microsoft's history. Microsoft built Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 with input from partners like you, and the quality of these products reflects this deep collaboration. On behalf of Microsoft, thank you.
Your number one priority as partners should be to internally adopt these two products. You will reap the benefits of the amazing features they offer and at the same time become enthusiastic advocates. We cannot over-stress the importance of your internally deploying these products. Many of you have already answered this call and are using these products in-house and have participated in product training. Additionally, there are more than 50,000 developers from 17,000 companies supporting Windows 7, and more than 5,500 independent software vendor (ISV) partners in 93 countries committing to Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 through
Green Light. Keep it up! Getting up to date on the latest software is job one.
In talking with many partners from around the world over the past few months, it has been amazing to feel the momentum that is behind these products. The partner and customer feedback, as well as the press coverage around these launches, have been very positive. We are constantly hearing from partners that their customers are telling them not only how excited they are about these products, but also how they see productivity improvements and cost savings that will make a material difference in their businesses.
What To Do Next – 7 Key Actions for These Launches It is time to capitalize on this enthusiasm and bring to your customers the next generation of computing infrastructure. Here are seven key actions you should be doing right now to ensure that you are best prepared to take full advantage of the extraordinary opportunity that the Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 releases present:
Thank you for all of your hard work preparing for the launch of these products and for choosing to partner with Microsoft.
