Even noted critics generally consider Microsoft Windows 7 to be a big improvement over its predecessor, Windows Vista. The popularity of the beta version also demonstrated that there's some interest in the new operating system, but if you stick to Microsoft's past statements, Windows 7 is still nearly a year away.

The company has always said that it would release Windows 7 three years after Windows Vista — placing it in early 2010 — but we've been suspicious that you'll be able to get your hands on it sooner for a while now. Rumor has it that it just reached the release candidate stage; that's the very last phase of quality assurance before a software product goes on sale. Now the president of PC manufacturer Compal is saying that he believes you'll be able to order Windows 7 computers in September or October of this year.

He didn't say why he thought that, exactly, but he's the sort of person who would be in on this sort of stuff. It's still not conclusive, but we thought you'd want to know that your salvation from excessive memory usage might very well be nigh. Cheers!

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