Very recent word on the internets tell us that the Windows 7 final RTM build has been leaked by China and is now making its way into the nooks and crannies of file uploading sites across the continents.

The engineers in the Windows 7 department under the leadership of Mr. Steven Sinofsky have signed off and compiled the final RTM builds of Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7 on Friday, July 10, 2009 at 7:45pm.

Highly accurate Russian website Wzor is reporting that Windows 7 RTM will possibly receive an official announcement at the upcoming World Partner Conference (WPC09) in New Orleans, Louisiana from from July 13th to July 16th. The first keynote is to begin at 8:30am CDT.

For TechNet and MSDN subscribers, Windows 7 RTM is expected to be available for free via Connect beginning on Friday, July 24, 2009. Keep in mind that any beta or Release Candidate keys will not work with the final version, although that shouldn’t need a reminder as common sense tells us that Microsoft wants you to pay for the hard work it put into developing its new OS. However, we see nothing wrong with TechNet and MSDN subscribers obtaining a copy “elsewhere” and then activating it with a genuine key on the 24th.

More here.