“Listening to our partners and customers has been fundamental to the development of Windows 7,” said Bill Veghte, senior vice president for the Windows business at Microsoft. “We heard them and worked hard to deliver the highest quality Release Candidate in the history of Windows. We have more partner support than we’ve ever had for an RC and are pleased to say that the Windows 7 RC has hit the quality and compatibility bar for enterprises to start putting it through its paces and testing in earnest.”

New to the Windows 7 RC are advancements such as Remote Media Streaming, Windows XP Mode (beta) and the upcoming beta of the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor:
          –  Remote Media Streaming - enables highly secure, remote Internet access to home-based digital media libraries from another Windows 7-based PC outside the home
          –  Windows XP Mode - utilizing Windows Virtual PC, Windows XP Mode allows Windows 7 users to run many Windows XP productivity applications, launched right from the Windows 7 desktop. Windows XP Mode will be available to Windows 7 Professional and Windows 7 Ultimate customers via download or, for the best experience, pre-installed directly on new PCs. As part of today’s announcement, Microsoft is releasing the beta of Windows XP Mode and Windows Virtual PC. For larger businesses where management is important to reduce the total cost of ownership, Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization (MED-V) within MDOP adds management to Windows Virtual PC including centralized policy, administration experience and deployment
          –  Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor - to help enable a smooth transition, Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor will help people analyze their PCs in preparation for a Windows 7 upgrade. Available soon, Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor will be a downloadable tool that will help people determine their ability to upgrade from their Windows XP-based or Windows Vista-based PC to Windows 7


In addition, a number of enhancements were made to existing features based on feedback from beta testers, including the following:
          –  Refined navigation - several enhancements to the Windows taskbar, JumpLists and search make navigation and finding exactly what you want much easier
          –  Internet Explorer 8 - InPrivate browsing in Internet Explorer 8 prevents browsing history, temporary Internet files, form data, cookies, and usernames and passwords from being retained by the browser. With Windows 7, you can start an InPrivate session straight from the JumpList. You can also open a new tab from the JumpList
          –  Windows Touch - controlling the computer by touching a touch-enabled screen or monitor is a core Windows 7 user experience. Improvements in the RC include several Windows Touch updates, including the ability to drag, drop and select items with touch, even inside Web sites that scroll both horizontally and vertically.


System Requirements for Windows 7

With the RC, Microsoft is also providing guidance on the minimum system requirements for Windows 7, showing that Windows 7 will work on a broader array of hardware than any other release of Windows at launch:
          •  1GHz or faster 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor
          •  1GB of RAM (32-bit)/2 GB of RAM (64-bit)
          •  16GB of available disk space (32-bit)/20 GB (64-bit)
          •  DirectX 9 graphics device with Windows Display Driver Model 1.0 or higher driver


For those who are interested in previewing Windows 7 and experiencing the new features firsthand but are not TechNet or MSDN subscribers, the Windows 7 RC will be publicly available May 5 on the Microsoft Windows 7 site . For customers who want to take advantage of Windows XP Mode and Windows Virtual PC, there will also be a download available on the site.