The delay may prompt resistance. When Microsoft initially withheld Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) from TechNet and MSDN subscribers in early 2008, , calling the decision "boneheaded" and "the lamest since Microsoft Bob," the latter a reference to a ridiculed interface that debuted in 1995.

As Veghte noted Monday morning at WPC, Sept. 1 is the date when Windows 7 will be available to volume licensing customers. All others, including consumers and businesses without a licensing plan, will have to wait until the Oct. 22 launch date, excepting any trafficking at file-sharing sites.

In an aside, LeBlanc repeated a warning Microsoft first issued in early April, that users running Windows 7 RC when, or if, they move to the final product. "Note that 'in-place' (or direct) upgrades from the Windows 7 RC to RTM will not be supported," LeBlanc said. "You will be required to do a Custom installation (aka 'clean install').

A custom, or clean, install requires users to back up or transfer data and settings to an external drive or flash drive, install Windows 7 RTM -- which effectively overwrites the hard drive -- then restore their data, recreate settings throughout Windows and reinstall all applications.

It's unclear whether users will be able to sidestep the custom install and instead do an in-place by , as they were able to do when they upgraded from beta to RC.