Windows 7 public release candidate out now
The public release candidate of Windows 7 is out today. To celebrate, we've peppered a news story about it with a dig at Lady Gaga and a repulsive birthing analogy. Rejoice!
There are only two good reasons for you reading this. Either you have no idea you can download the Windows 7 release candidate as of today, or it's downloading in the background and you need something to do while you wait.
The release candidate is, as you damn well know, the near-final version of Microsoft's new operating system. You're entirely free to download it, install it and use it until 1 June 2010. But there's never been a better time to be warned: you're on your own -- Microsausage offers no technical support. If your machine can't handle the code and collapses in on itself like Lady Gaga's personality, more fool you for playing with beta code.
We've documented Windows 7's conception, gestation and tentative first kicks. Now, as Microsoft begins to dilate, red-faced and grunting... No, let's ditch that analogy. Basically what we were somehow getting at is that everything you could want to know about the new OS is in our Windows 7 archive.
The final version of Windows 7 could hit the shops as early as October, says CNET UK sister site's ZDNet UK. To download the RC in the meantime, head over to Microsoft's Windows 7 site.