Windows 7: The incentives are coming

Microsoft and its partners are entering that challenging period that occurs every time a new Windows release is poised to debut: The lull just before the arrival of the next big thing. But it looks like the Redmondians are readying some new consumer and business incentives to keep the pipeline primed.

Microsoft is expected to release Windows 7 to manufacturing around August July of this year. Then there will be a period of “a few months” (as acknowledged recently by Windows Client Chief Financial Officer Tami Reller) before customers will be able to buy it.

There’s a sizeable pool of potential customers for Windows 7. In 2008, about 60 percent of the consumer market was still using XP or older versions of Windows in 2008 and 75 percent of the business market was doing the same, according to a May 29 Deutsche Bank research note, which cited Gartner Group data.