.. and is now available to the general public finally. This is the Microsoft Canada website..

http://www.microsoft.com/canada/windows/default.aspx

There is a link on the web site for the heavily discounted Windows 7 Home Premium Family Pack which includes THREE upgrade licenses. If you want to upgrade your home network, now would be a very good time. The Family Pack is a limited offer, and will not be around for too long. Cost is estimated to be cdn$199.99. To buy three individual copies in Canada would cost not far short of cdn$400.

Also, take a good look at this..

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-CA/windows7/products/compare

Don’t buy a version higher than you need. No version is ‘faster’ than another. What you get in Professional and Ultimate is the ability to connect to a business domain. You can also back up to a home network, but most home networks do not generally have a machine in the network that is capable of holding multiple backups. If you don’t need these two features, Home Premium will suit you well and you will save yourself almost cdn$100.

I was a Windows 7 sceptic for a while because I was disappointed that some tried and trusty Windows features had been dropped, but I have been running Windows 7 exclusively since it first appeared on download sites available to technical guys. Normally, I would keep the previous operating system fully updated just in case of problems.

I did it with XP when making the transition to Vista, but have not given the same courtesy to Vista, and not because Vista doesn’t deserve it either. The truth is that I have had so much pleasure running the new kid on the block, and have forgotten all about my trusty Vista installation.Windows 7 really is that good.