Official: Windows 7 RC publicly available May 5th

We've seen plenty of speculation on this date, but thanks to a quick email from Microsoft reps -- and a handy post on the Windows Blog -- we now have confirmation. According to the cats and kittens in Redmond, the Windows 7 RC will be officially available to MSDN and TechNet subscribers on April 30th, and will be made publicly available on May 5th. End transmission... and bust out the champagne.

[Templarian Posted Apr 24th 2009 8:04PM]

Yay, I guess I should update from build 7000 now.

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 24th 2009 9:47PM]

Yes, and engadget should update their picture from 7000 to 7100 also

[Spiritus Sancti Posted Apr 24th 2009 11:56PM]

I never thought I would care so little about an announcement...

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 25th 2009 9:27AM]

"I never thought I would care so little about an announcement..."

like we care that you don't care...
muppet :)

[Tiptup300 Posted Apr 26th 2009 3:50AM]

I don't feel like paying another 200 bucks for another operating system. So I guess I'm not going to upgrade. And I really loved Windows 7.

[Dreamer Posted Apr 26th 2009 7:06AM]

build 7000 is already so awesome and i'm seriously loving it....
i don't know how awesome this version would be

[VanillaSpice Posted Apr 26th 2009 9:58PM]

Heh - minor Windows posts get those annoying little "not news", "old news", "don't care", "not interested" etc comments as well! I thought it was just the Apple ones.

[OneLove Posted Apr 27th 2009 10:35AM]

I installed it last night. The x64 beta keys didn't work so it didn't activate. The nvidia graphics drivers didn't work well with my 295 gtx. Media center doesn't do forward and backward time line jumps anymore via my remote (fast forward/backward works). My hauppauge 2250 tuner wouldn't record.

I went back to vista. (the windows 7 wall paper was awesome tho)

[Mattg Posted Apr 28th 2009 4:54PM]

I'm sorry that your unreleased, beta operating system did not work as well as you had hoped!

[newreformation Posted Apr 24th 2009 8:07PM]

I'm under 21... *Busts out the Root Beer*

[KeegdnaB Posted Apr 24th 2009 8:25PM]

I am also under 21....but honestly, who's gonna know
"Busts out Tuxedo and Martini Set*

[Kieran Posted Apr 24th 2009 8:31PM]

Where are you two guys from (I'm guessing America)?, Over here in England the legal drinking age is 18.

[Streetfights Posted Apr 24th 2009 8:40PM]

Wait really Kieran!?! other countries have lower drinking ages than the US?!?! NO WAY! i've been missing out on consuming alcoholic beverages legally for all this time?! my life officially has no meaning

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 24th 2009 8:41PM]

I'm under 21, but that won't stop my from busting out that bottle of Vodka I've been saving.. oh wait, I havn't been saving it, oh well.

[El Duderino Posted Apr 24th 2009 8:42PM]

America...or Saudi Arabia. It's great to be in such great company regarding our drinking age. Anything lower than 21 is for communists and infidels, am I right?

[El Duderino Posted Apr 24th 2009 8:44PM]

Shit, I meant Pakistan.

[DirtyVegas Posted Apr 24th 2009 8:44PM]

Yeah, you see kids under 21 *never* get drunk in the US.

[mrstu Posted Apr 24th 2009 8:51PM]

Over 40... I could drink legally in the US when I was 18.

[DRHouse Posted Apr 24th 2009 8:52PM]

Alcohol is bad for your health people

[Dafrety Posted Apr 24th 2009 9:10PM]

You're one to talk, Dr. House. *shakes bottle of Vicodin*

[GenBanks Posted Apr 24th 2009 9:10PM]

Under 21, but over 18, and in England so legal...... but I'm up late writing uni essays so I can't drink, except for my trusty mug of tea and a Gu chocolate pud in the oven.

I don't even know what RC stands for though, so I don't know why we're celebrating, but I like Windows 7 and I didn't want to miss out on the party.

[MikeWard1701 Posted Apr 24th 2009 9:12PM]

@DR House

So is life in general.

From the moment your life begins, you're dying.

IMO, if you're gonna die, does it really matter when?

[GenBanks Posted Apr 24th 2009 9:16PM]

@MikeWard ... there's a gray area between being alive and dying, which is called suffering through health problems in middle & old age and wishing you'd done less of the more harmful things earlier in your life...

My way around it is just to deny that beer is in any way bad for my health. Bunch of liars.

[MikeWard1701 Posted Apr 24th 2009 9:25PM]

@GenBanks

I know what you mean, its that time of year again! I'm up scoring the soundtrack for a fellow students game, fun times!
May I recommend Earl Grey (tea)? Great for all nighters!

RC means Release Candidate, to quote Wikipedia;
"The term release candidate (RC) refers to a version with potential to be a final product, ready to release unless fatal bugs emerge. In this stage of product stabilization (read QA cycle), all product features have been designed, coded and tested through one or more Beta cycles with no known showstopper-class bug."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_release_life_cycle#Release_candidate

The general consensus for celebration is that Windows 7 is looking to be a very promising OS, many finding that it out performs Vista SP1 while still in Beta and Release Candidate, so hopes (and expectations) for the finished product are high.

[nikster Posted Apr 24th 2009 9:46PM]

In Austria, the legal drinking age is 16.

Which doesn't prevent the 14 year olds from coma-drinking....

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 26th 2009 12:11AM]

1)there is little to no evdence stating that alcohol before 18 is harmful to ur health.

2)Regulating what people do to there own bodies hiding behind religious morality is, ironically, morally imissible

[feraligatr8 Posted Apr 25th 2009 8:20PM]

21's the legal drinking age in America? haha in Vanuatu and Australia it's only 18. 21's way too old, I don't really care though coz I never want to drink.

[2late2die Posted Apr 25th 2009 8:47PM]

Wow. Talk about getting off topic!

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 27th 2009 1:45AM]

Hahaha, there is no limitation in China, folk nor legislator, they don't think it's bad for children to drink.

[Dshark Posted Apr 27th 2009 4:34AM]

I'm bustin out the Monster. I looooove Monster. Not only do I like the buzz, but you can also drink it in class, unlike some beverages.

[Evangelion Posted Apr 24th 2009 8:08PM]

Awesome. Can't wait to try it out. So far, I love Windows 7.

[3rdman Posted Apr 24th 2009 8:17PM]

Yea Windows 7 is looking better and better!

P.S. Did you see the Rebuild of Evangelion 2.0 trailer? AWESOME!!!!!! :D (Yes I'll admit I posted just to say that)

[Evangelion Posted Apr 24th 2009 9:01PM]

@ 3rdman

Hell yeah! Can't wait for Evangelion 2.0!

[Victory Posted Apr 24th 2009 8:09PM]

will this be released by the same method as last time?

And therefore the same fiasco?

I want it but I don't want to fight for it.

[Richard Posted Apr 24th 2009 10:12PM]

By last time you mean BitTorrent? :p

[brotato Posted Apr 24th 2009 8:10PM]

Its already leaked on most torrent sites. I got the 64 bit version and its running good

[YourGod Posted Apr 24th 2009 10:38PM]

'It's running well,' you meant to say. You lack grammatical maturity and skill; are you fifteen years of age by any chance?

[jch0075 Posted Apr 25th 2009 1:13AM]

@Billy. And your prowess at pointing out non-relevant grammatical errors leads me to believe you are a total douche and have to much time on your hands. And YES I started two my sentences with the word "and". oh noze!

[Sam of the Sun Posted Apr 25th 2009 4:58AM]

joey: too*

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 25th 2009 9:30AM]

'It's running well,' you meant to say. You lack grammatical maturity and skill; are you fifteen years of age by any chance?"

cock

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 24th 2009 8:12PM]

And to think, not 1 week ago I pirated build 7077....
Hopefully this won't be too different.

[BlueAlien Posted Apr 24th 2009 8:14PM]

If I install this will I receive updates? Will I be able to use this as my permanent OS?

[MikeWard1701 Posted Apr 24th 2009 9:02PM]

RCs and betas generally dont get updated in the same way as GA (General availability) software does. Though the RC will most probably include Windows/Microsoft Update, chances are it can only be used for updating things like IE, Office, Live etc.

Yes, until it expires in January 2010.

[cronosxxx Posted Apr 24th 2009 8:18PM]

Does the rc expires? and if it does when it expires?

[MikeWard1701 Posted Apr 24th 2009 9:05PM]

Going by the image in this article.
http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-making-its-way-to-oems-a-torrent-tracker-near/

January 2010.

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 26th 2009 5:41AM]

It could equally be March 2010 because the date format isn't listed

[MikeWard1701 Posted Apr 30th 2009 8:22AM]

True, I forgot the US uses middle endian instead of little endian date formatting.

Seems rather odd and illogical to be honest. I personally prefer the big endian format YYYY:MM:DD.

[Chefgon Posted Apr 24th 2009 8:18PM]

Can we run an upgrade from the first public beta or does it require a clean install?

[MikeWard1701 Posted Apr 24th 2009 9:04PM]

Its probably an option, but with betas and RCs its recommended you perform a clean install.

[SlaterGS Posted Apr 24th 2009 8:19PM]

what is the difference with this build? Is there any reason to upgrade if I am not having issues with the 7000 build.