Microsoft will deliver a Windows 7 release candidate 1 (RC) in two weeks, according to the company's website.

Microsoft's partner programme site says Windows 7 RC may be available to paying subscribers to Microsoft's developer and IT services before May 5. Partners will be allowed to download the release candidate on that date, the first Tuesday of the month.

"Partners: If you have a subscription to MSDN or TechNet, you can download Windows 7 RC now," the page read on Saturday afternoon. "Otherwise, you can download Windows 7 RC starting May 5, 2009."

The link to the download, however, shunted users to the TechNet download page, which did not list Windows 7 RC as one of the available files.

This is the second time in just over three weeks that Microsoft's website has leaked information about Windows 7 RC. In late March, Microsoft published a page that said it would launch a public release candidate sometime in May, but did not specify a date. Microsoft later pulled the page.

The partner programme page that appeared today did not mention a roll-out date for the general public. Traditionally, Microsoft makes previews available to subscribers of MSDN (Microsoft Developers Network) and TechNet several days to several weeks before it offers them to the public.

Last January, for instance, MSDN and TechNet subscribers could download the Windows 7 beta on January 7, a Wednesday; the public beta was to hit the company's download site Friday, January 9, but the rush overloaded Microsoft's servers, forcing it to restart the process on Saturday, January 10.

Source: PCWorld

However, since "partners and subscribers" can download it presently, expect it to be available earlier.

squee666 Wrote:lol old news by 3 days or so

metalgear already requested it

you mean kaiser?

Am I allowed to laugh at everyone who said "Win7 not in 2009, no way!"?

SkyDX Wrote:Am I allowed to laugh at everyone who said "Win7 not in 2009, no way!"?

This is just RC1, who knows what else they have planned. I mean with all the betas there could be many more RC's

Well officially there was only one beta and that was Build 7000, the others where all leaked builds and it's quite normal for an OS to have many builds. RC is close to RTM thus almost feature complete so I seriously doubt they will add something big by now.
Unless they do a 7 Development Reset xD (and continue where they left off with the old Longhorn..... yeah one can dream....)

Quote:It’s been confirmed that Windows 7 Build 7100 is the official RC release. Complied on 21 April 2009 it is tagged as 7100.0.winmain_win7rc .090421-1700. More recent internal builds have been released, but 7100 is the official RC build.

The Windows 7 Release Candidate will be available for download on May 5th, although expect it to be leaked before then particualarly as MSDN and Technet subscribers will get it beforehand. Already fake torrents have been seen in the wild.

Builds 71XX will be based on RC1, and RC2 builds expected around August 2009 will be Builds 72XX. Given the pace of Windows 7’s development, if I were a betting man, I would put money in on the Windows 7 Release Date being before Christmas 2009.

Source