Windows 7 RC1

After releasing several Beta versions of Windows 7 for users to try, Microsoft has released its RC1 version (Release Candidate 1). Users who are subscribed to MSDN can already download this release as fom April 29, while members from the general public will get access to the download as from tomorrow, 5th May upto the end of June. Microsoft has specified that there will be no restrictions on the number of downloads or license keys to be used.

The RC release, if you are wondering, is a version close to the final one, although not the final one, with bugs and other issues from the Beta releases corrected, therefore more stable for use. Windows 7 is built to run faster, and more stable than Vista (the ‘Blue Screen Of Death’ occurs too often in Vista and it crashes more than any OS), with some improvements on the appearance of the desktop, the taskbar and icons in general, along with the Control Panel, User Account as well as new keyboard shortcuts included.

Notice in the above screenshots of the desktops that the taskbar only shows the icons of the programs which the user has opened, unlike in XP or Vista where you get the icon + the name. It has been named ‘Superbar’, and the sidebar/dock usually associated in Vista is here called PieDock :

‘Superbar’                    ‘Pie Dock’

To be able to run Windows 7, your computer must at leat meet these requirements:

° 1GHz Processor (32/64 bit)

° 1GB RAM (32-bit) / 2GB RAM (64-bit)

° 16GB HardDisk space for 32-bit / 20GB for 64-bit

° DirectX 9.0 compatible VGA with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver

For more screenshots and downloads (themes, wallpapers), visit: Windows7News and Windows7Center (can also download the RC version from this site).

XP and Vista users can also download the 7 transformation pack from: AskVG and WindowsXLive.

Of course official and legal downloads + news can be found at Microsoft.com