Windows 7 RC now available; will be free for 13 months

The Release Candidate (RC) of Microsoft's Windows 7 operating system was made available to subscribers of MSDN, TechBeta and TechNet for download yesterday. Indeed, there was so much interest that the download page apparently crashed as a result. Hopefully, the May 5 general availability of Windows 7 will go smoothly.

Whatever the case, the consensus appears to be that the operating system installs and runs quickly and efficiently, and is considered highly polished for a release candidate. In addition to a supporting a much larger array of hardware than Windows Vista, Microsoft, in an unprecedented move, will let users run Windows 7 RC free for a whopping 13 months--more than a year.

Interestingly, a spokeswoman for Microsoft declined comment when asked the reason behind Microsoft giving such a long free pass to the operating system. Microsoft has said before that that Windows 7 RC will be the first and final release candidate this time around.

Windows 7 RC features the ability to stream media between PCs much like the popular Slingbox, though several features such as a Bluetooth audio driver as well as the ability to create a guest account were dropped. In addition, the Professional and Ultimate version of Windows 7 will also have an XP virtual machine built-in.

Users will not need to rush to download Windows 7 RC too. Details leaked in late March revealed that Windows 7 RC will be available at least past June 2009 with no limits on the number of product keys.

For more on this story:
- check out this article at ZDNet
- check out this article at Network World
- check out this article at eWeek