Acer UK Marketing Director Bobby Watkins told Pocket-Lint today that Windows 7 is set for October 23, probably costing Steve Ballmer a few chairs in the process. And what seems like even better news, anyone purchasing a Vista-based Acer model 30 days prior to release date will receive Windows 7 for free. What happened to the rumored upgrade program where users are supposed to be eligible for a free upgrade to Windows 7 if they purchased a Vista-based machine after June 26th?

The release date slip was part of an announcement regarding Windows 7 being pre-loaded onto the Acer Aspire Z5600 PC at release

The blogosphere is expecting a Q4 2009 release for Windows 7, but Microsoft hasn’t said anything yet and Microsoft has already somewhat hinted that Windows 7 will most likely be released during this timeframe. Senior Vice President Bill Veghte recently told Windows IT Pro, “A holiday release is accomplishable.”

Based on rumors we received earlier, we posted an article predicting an RTM release at September 2009 and a public release date around late October or early November. The most we can tell you right now is that Acer’s confirmation matches the info our sources told us. Updates will be provided as we receive more information on the final release date.

Related posts:

1. Windows 7 Rumor Roundup – September/October 2009 release? Over the past few months we’ve covered most, if not, all of the rumors…
2. Further clues narrow Windows 7 release date speculation to November 2009 Just when we think we are one step closer to figuring out the release date…

. Read the rest at windows7center.com.