Microsoft accidentally reveals Windows 7 RC to come in May

Early this morning, ArsTechnica spotted the Windows 7 Release Candidate download page go up on Technet. The page became a redirect to the beta download page moments after the discovery.  The published date of May 2009 confirms previous rumors of a public May 2009 RC release. Windows 7 Release Candidate will be available as a download from Microsoft until June 30th, 2009 and will expire on June 1st, 2010. Both 32-bit and 64-bit versions will be available in English, French, German, Japanese, and Spanish. The hardware requirements remain unchanged:

• 1 GHz 32-bit or 64-bit processor or higher
• 1 GB of system memory or more
• 16 GB of available disk space
• Support for DirectX 9 graphics with 128 MB memory (to enable the Aero theme)
• DVD-R/W Drive

Source: ArsTechnica - Click on image for full size view

In further related news, Ed Bott provides some educated guesses on some dates based on the details on the above page and his own sources:

• Windows 7 Release Candidate Escrow before the end of April. Russian Windows rumor site Wzor.net said the same thing.
• Windows 7 Release Candidate to be publicly released in mid-May. Wzor.net said it would be released at the end of May.
• Release to OEM partners July 1 at the earliest in the US.
• Release to Technet and MSDN subscribers on August 24th
• A retail launch at around Late September.

When do you think Windows 7 will be released?

Related posts:

1. Windows 7 Release Candidate release date confirmed – May 5th
2. Windows 7 Release Candidate to be released to public on May 5th
3. Windows 7 RC2 at build 7200, available on June 11th