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.

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 25th 2009 8:37AM]

But will it blend? That is the question.

[yakapo Posted Apr 25th 2009 9:51AM]

I waited a long time to upgrade to vista. Currently I have 3 hdd's with vista, osx 10.5.6, and xp. However vista gets used 98% of the time.

I don't care if they updated the calculator and wordpad. I don't care if it looks pretty.

why should I upgrade?

[Quikboy Posted Apr 25th 2009 10:42AM]

Why do you need to upgrade? Just because a company releases a new version of their product, doesn't mean there's anything wrong with your old one.

I'm still on XP (which isn't because I don't like Vista), and I'm just fine with what I have, and don't feel like paying for a new version.

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 25th 2009 11:17AM]

Me thinks Windows 7 is preeety.

[loocas Posted Apr 25th 2009 11:44AM]

I think it's rather pretty...

[loocas Posted Apr 25th 2009 11:44AM]

"cats and kittens in Redmond"

:D:D:D how cruel! considering...

[steviep Posted Apr 25th 2009 12:46PM]

Hopefully they will keep the download for this going unlike the beta version so I can buy a laptop after the update program starts and then pick this up. If they dont.....Yay torrents! Ill avoid Vista all together. Or Ill find that linux is way better.

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 25th 2009 1:06PM]

To Microsoft:

The names for your product line should have been,

Windows 7 Enterprise (ultimate)

Windows 7 Small Business (pro)

Windows 7 Home (premium)

Windows 7 Basic (home basic)

and do away with the confusing Ultimate.

[Wwhat Posted Apr 25th 2009 1:25PM]

Make that

Windows 7 Pirate (ultimate)

Windows 7 Small Business (pro)

Windows 7 Bundled (premium)

Windows 7 Lose (home basic)

[timoti Posted Apr 25th 2009 7:36PM]

> Windows 7 Pirate (ultimate)

LOL

[timoti Posted Apr 25th 2009 7:40PM]

> Windows 7 Pirate (ultimate)

LOL

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 25th 2009 1:40PM]

Goodbye OSX
Hello Windows 7

[Adamd21 Posted Apr 25th 2009 11:27PM]

Yes!

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 25th 2009 3:35PM]

Can't wait to see the changes over the first beta. Even though I noticed a few quarks in the beta, I believe it was a lot better than Vista and believe the RC version and final will have many great features to offer.

[igravious Posted Apr 25th 2009 8:13PM]

You must have pretty good eyesight.

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 25th 2009 9:14PM]

Wow f***ing nice image!! Welcome to win7 magic world.

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 26th 2009 2:49AM]

looking at it design-wise, windows should stop using blue shade of aero tint as like the default colour; even though thats the official windows color. they need to change it to black, it looks a heck lot nicer.

example:
http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/gizmodo/2009/02/aeropeekreal_02.jpg

[MikeWard1701 Posted Apr 26th 2009 4:09AM]

I agree, always preferred 'white on black' for my GUIs. So much easier to read, and with it being the inverse of most content within windows/apps allows freater distinction between content and interface.

Its one reason I like Vista, and Office 2007s black colour scheme.

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 27th 2009 1:50PM]

I upgraded from Windows Vista x64 Ultimate last night with only a few hitches. My VMware and synaptics touch pad drivers needed to be reinstalled. Other than that I've noticed that it uses less memory from the get go. Running a few background programs and some gadgets gets me up to 1.2gb with 4gb system. I like how the taskbar is now. HUGE improvement since xp!

[Level 5 Posted Apr 28th 2009 8:11AM]

Win7 is shaping up to be the first update I've been excited about since 2000. Win2k was fast, fairly intuitive and for the time, decently secure. XP didn't really start to perform well for me until SP2, and Vista; while I do love it, is bloated and resource intensive. Win7 on the other hand, is much more fresh than Vista was to me, slimmed down what it needs to run, blazing fast vs Vista and has added a ton of new features that are intuitive and actually help one's productivity. Kudos MS, it's been a while since I've had love for ya.

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 28th 2009 4:39PM]

Let's wait and see how it works than the current version

[Snowglider Posted Apr 29th 2009 11:39AM]

oh come on and be tomorrow already :)

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 30th 2009 3:38AM]

So its the 30th wheres my days work gone!

[(Unverified) Posted May 1st 2009 5:50PM]

If you’re not an MSDN or TechNet subscriber, you still won’t have to wait long to get your hands on the RC. Microsoft says it will make Windows 7 RC available to the general public on May 5, which is next Tuesday. That's Good.
http://www.tech-talks.com/windows-7-rc-officially-available-for-msdn-and-technet-subscribers/

[katas Posted May 1st 2009 11:04PM]

Ok, I know it's not quite May 5th yet but this is still funny:

"It will be available at least through June 30, 2009, with no limits on the number of downloads or product keys available.

So you don’t need rush to make sure you get your copy. When you’re ready to download the RC, it’ll be waiting for you.

Windows 7 Beta downloads are no longer available. However, you can still register for a product key or look up the key you’ve already gotten."

[via http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/dd353205.aspx]

[justinKaisse Posted May 2nd 2009 3:31AM]

what's the best way to get MS OSes, legally?

i need to put some flavor of win on my macbook for the wife. she's been running xp on a computer she's giving up. looked around for xp and its still couple hundred u$.

for apple, i was in the dev program entry level, and got dev previews and the OS when it was available. it made sense as got a chunk off the price of hardware.

is there something similar for MS? technet, perhaps? which flavor?

thanks!

[(Unverified) Posted May 5th 2009 7:40AM]

i'm on windows 7 rc now. seem great!!