A Microsoft spokesperson on Tuesday said the company will release its highly anticipated Windows 7 operating system for sale to the general public on Oct. 22, in time for the crucial holiday shopping season.

Windows 7 screen shot
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"I can finally confirm Windows 7 timing," the spokesperson said in an e-mail to InformationWeek, noting the Oct. 22 release date. The spokesperson also said the company is launching a program called Windows Upgrade Option that will allow customers who bought Vista-powered PCs to upgrade to Windows 7.

Such upgrade programs are generally meant to convince consumers not to hold off purchasing PCs during the time period between when a new product is announced and when it's actually available.

Microsoft plans to deliver more of the details around Windows 7's release at the Computex computer trade show Wednesday morning in Taipei. There, Steve Guggenheimer, corporate VP for Microsoft's OEM unit, will talk about the company's plans for distributing the OS during a scheduled keynote address.

Microsoft will ship several versions of Windows 7, including Starter Edition, Home Premium, Professional, Enterprise, and, for emerging markets only, Home Basic.

On Monday, a Microsoft official said the company has nixed plans to prevent Windows 7 Starter Edition from running more than three PC applications at one time. Previously, Microsoft had said that Starter Edition, which is purpose-built to run on increasingly popular, low-powered computers known as netbooks, would support no more than three apps at a time.

Microsoft is hoping that the Windows 7 operating system helps it recover from the Vista debacle. Vista failed to catch on with mainstream computer users and businesses have shunned it outright. Windows 7 is said to be lighter and easier to use than its predecessor. It also includes slick new features such as built-in support for touch screens and tools that improve day-to-day tasks such as desktop searches and PC-to-PC file transfers.

The software maker plans to cripple the beta version of Windows 7 on July 1.

Starting on that date, users who are still running Windows 7 Beta will see their computers shut down and reboot every two hours. The interruptions are designed to encourage early adopters to move to Windows 7 Release Candidate, a more polished preview version of Microsoft's next operating system. Windows 7 Release Candidate will function until June 1, 2010. After that, users will need to upgrade to a full, paid version of the operating system to continue use.

Microsoft last week introduced a bundle of software applications that leverage Windows 7's built-in support for touch-screen interfaces.

The Windows 7 Touch Pack includes Microsoft Surface Globe, a 3-D map of the Earth that users can navigate through with their fingertips; Surface Collage, a digital photo organizer and editing program; and Microsoft Surface Lagoon, an aquatic-themed screensaver in which fish and other creatures react to touch.

InformationWeek has published an in-depth report on Windows 7. Download the report here (registration required).