Windows 7 Release Candidate available, almost

Windows 7 Release Candidate (RC) has been officially unveiled, at least for the subscribers of MSDN, TechBeta and TechNet anyway. The rest of the world will have to wait until May 5 for the public release. There is no need to gatecrash though, since Microsoft has already announced that that Windows 7 RC will be available past June 2009, with no limits on the number of license keys to be issued out.

What I found extremely interesting is that users will be able to run Windows 7 RC for a staggering 13 months without having to pay for it. This is a dramatic departure from its past practices; the longest evaluation licenses I know of so far ends at 180-days, or about 6 months. I mean, my previous laptop didn't even last one year before I replaced it!

So what is Microsoft attempting to do here?  Here's my completely ungrounded speculation on it.

The piracy and free software angle

There's a saying that goes, "If you can't beat them, join them." What better way to combat the perennial problem of piracy, as well as have the last word over at the Free Software Foundation, than to give software away for free? I mean, what's the sense in pirating a free product? So you see, Windows 7 RC is really just "Windows 7," with the "RC" pegged on to keep the shareholders happy.

Copying from Gmail

Remember Google's Gmail? Well, it's actually called Gmail Beta, or Google Mail Beta. Really! Just head over to www.gmail.com and take a close look at the logo if you don't believe me. You see, perhaps Microsoft had a moment of enlightenment and decided that it will follow in the footsteps of other products that are perpetually in beta...then chickened out at the last minute, settling for 13-months instead.

Of course, Microsoft might just be offering a 13-month trial simply because it can. I mean, it's not like you're likely to run Windows 7 RC on an enterprise machine, right? So what do you think? Look forward to hearing your take on this. - Paul