False alarm: leaked Windows 7 box shots fake (update: is now proven to be real)

win7boxfake

Could you imagine the mockery if this reached Slashdot. A fairly unknown Polish website called “CentrumXP.pl” today published some images of what were portrayed as renderings of the Windows 7 packaging and box art. Since my Polish is as good as Google Translate is, I can’t say for certain the website actually claimed this to be leaked images of the official box art but it was certainly implied to some degree and has already begun to spread to at least Bink.nu, Softpedia and forums.

At first glance, the images are quite interesting and that is probably the only thing to take away from. Details like the butterfly and lens flare certainly raise suspicion of its authenticity, but you never know with Microsoft, like the bird on the Windows 7 login screen. The subtle however most conclusive evidence that this is a fake lies in the “Windows 7” logo. The official logo uses the fonts Segoe Light for the letter “7” which is not the case here.

The Windows 7 packaging secret lives to be leaked another day.

Update: Now people claiming to know something say these are not fakes. We’ll find out soon enough.

Update 2: I was wrong. There’s now undeniable proof that these are indeed real.

47 insightful thoughts

  1. Those look somewhat nice to me, expecially the little added details to the Windows logo on the left box.

    Anywho, I can’t wait to start using W7 and logging in and out just to see the screen.

  2. and despite they being fake, they made their way to this site as well, promoting his work, stuff like this should be ignored, there’s no context, no reason for it to be on any website, leave that for the enquirer, winbeta or iexbeta. Lets try not to make something insignificant worthy of being news. Think how you, your sources and your website will be portrayed. There are many teeny sites out there that try to be professional, just leave this type of garbage for them.

  3. @mike: Better on a site labeled “fake” than on 50 sites not labeled at all.

  4. I asked czech Microsoft for a confirmation. And yes, these boxes are fake. But it is obvious at the first look. Don’t really get how bink.nu could even swallow this 🙂

  5. Pingback: Windows 7 Blog
  6. Long, dont waste time – its very lame site and besides, they have some other ‘sins’ similar to this one.

    anyway, sorry for my countrymans lol

  7. Long, just for the sake of clarification, I sent them a mail and here is the response I got from Adam Stepien, editor-in-chief of CentrumXP.pl : “These shots are not fakes. Microsoft has released other stuff like presentations, advertising (not leaked yet) where you can find these images, so it won’t change.”

    Anyway its no big deal, real or fake …. lets move on to something better 🙂

  8. “Get more now” – are they really going to use that line? After removing so many features from vista?! Thats gonna lead to a false advertising claim surely!??

  9. Uhhhh…. Last I remembered, they were not going to sell retail Windows 7 Ultimate…. so I dunno why there would be a box..

  10. Hi Long!

    You have a nearly 100% accurancy on your reports, even if you just guess something. But not this time. This images are legit, they are from Microsofts image repository for external partners (mediabank). There is also a very nice wallpaper,… but still confidential. Interesting date by the way,… (there is a date, when it is allowed to use this wallpaper).

  11. The final box covers could be AMAZING!l1l1l lololol.. I still wouldn’t want to buy that Win7 noobjunk though

  12. @Long,

    actually, those box images seem a bit tame for something that is, essentially a very large release for MSFT.

    i think you’re spot on in that they’re fakes…

  13. I hope the actual box is better than the one designed for Windows Vista and Office 2007; the plastic can be a pain to open with, and it definitely doesn’t win the support of eco-conscious people. Plus, not a lot of people buy the retail CD.

    Keep it simple.

  14. I liked the slim boxes for the ‘Windows AnyTime upgrade’ packages. They really should reduce the footprint of the box seeing that they are going to move this version of Windows quite quickly and would need to package more.

    Have you seen the OS X Leopard box? Very simple, small and very nice with some texture applied on the logo.

  15. If these are genuine, I’ll have to say the Windows logo has really been uglified by organic matter and flora and fauna. And the rounded edges only on one side also not just look ugly, but seem to be a hybrid between an XP box and a Vista box. The Vista box cover art was gorgeous by the way IMO.

  16. Please don’t tell me there will separate versions for EVERY SINGLE UPGRADE PATH. That would be a NIGHTMARE for consumers looking to upgrade editions…

  17. shouldn’t the most important thing be what’s inside this box? How could the topic about fake boxes be interesting?

  18. “There are many teeny sites out there that try to be professional, just leave this type of garbage for them.” lmao, It seems like CentrumXP.pl is more professional than iStartedSomething.

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