Microsoft has released Windows 7 Release Candidate (RC) on 30th April and now it is available to download for testers, who are subscribed with MSDN and TechNet. For normal users it’ll be available from 5 May.

According to Microsoft, Beta of Windows 7 which was launched in January 2009 and this RC version has slight differences, so if you want to feel the real difference then first clean Beta from your system and then test RC. It is also a way to get proper feedback from testers for the new released version. The testers can also download Windows 7 Server, Windows 7 XP Mode and Windows Virtual PC add-ons for testing.

The specified minimum system requirements for Windows 7 are similar to the requirements which were for Windows Vista operating system. Even, with the span of three years in two operating systems, Microsoft did not require any change in systems, which provides opportunity for Vista users to jump easily on Windows 7 with their old systems.

Minimum system requirements for Windows 7 are:

• 1GHz (x86 or x64) processor
• 1 GB of RAM (32-bit) and 2 GB of RAM (64-bit)
• 16 GB of available disk space (32-bit) and 20 GB (64-bit)
• DirectX 9 graphics device with Windows Display Driver Model 1.0 or higher driver

According to Microsoft Windows 7 Beta will expire on August 1, 2009. Whereas, Windows 7 RC will expire on 1st June, 2010. Microsoft will not provide any technical support for these pre-released versions of Windows 7. So, if you encounter any problem regarding Windows 7 Beta or Windows 7 RC then contact to online support forums of Microsoft.

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