A page over at Microsoft Partners has been updated to show that Windows 7 RC will be publically released on May 5, and should be available for MSDN and Technet subscribers now. However, clicking through the download link will only get you the beta, right now.   This would seem to jive with an earlier leak on a Microsoft page saying that the RC would be available in May, but that was taken down soon after it was reported.   Well see how long this page stays updated with the Windows 7 RC infor

TechARP had been providing giving updates on the Windows 7 Downgrade Rights Program. Now Microsoft has confirmed the same in a blog post, regarding the Windows 7 Downgrade rights program.   Users can downgrade to Windows XP and Windows Vista from Windows 7 via OEMs for 6 months after Windows 7 General Availability. For customers and businesses running Windows XP, Microsoft still recommends an upgrade to Windows Vista before moving onto upgrading Windows 7. If the user needs to run Windows XP P

Builds for Windows 7 keep powering forward; it seems there are new ones being reported weekly, but here's one that might be worth sitting up and paying attention for: it appears Windows 7 has reached build 7105, an RC build. But in addition to this, it's worth remembering that a Windows 7 RC could possibly be available April 10th. This timing makes it seem as though Neowin's exclusive source was dead on, and that in a few days time Microsoft will announce availability of an RC build for its late

Thanks to Windows Server boss Bill Laing, we now know that Windows Server 2008 R2 will be released this calendar year. Since Windows Server 2008 R2 is the server version of Windows 7, we can deduce from this announcement that the successor to Windows Vista will certainly arrive before the end of the year. And what's up with the "quite major announcements" about Windows 7 Microsoft is talking about?   Bill Laing revealed the plans for 2008 Server R2 during an interview. Generally, the server ve

It had been announced a while ago already, but today Microsoft finally took the wraps off its latest server offering: Windows Server 2008 Foundation. Foundation is a cut-down version of the Server 2008 family, but Microsoft uncharacteristically did not remove all that much. It won't be sold as a stand-alone product; rather, OEMs get to sell it pre-installed.   The limitations imposed upon Windows Server 2008 are fairly reasonable. It can only serve up to 15 users, but does not support virtuali

The Windows 7 beta release is already a few months old now, and Microsoft has already made quite a number of changes to its new windows release after that, as detailed in the Engineering 7 weblog. These changes would make it to the public via the release candidate, but it has always been a bit unclear as to when it would arrive. Thanks to a slip-up, we now know the RC is coming in May.   via > http://www.osnews.com/story/21204/Windows_...e_Coming_in_May

About a year after the first beta (which was followed by another beta and a release candidate), Microsoft has announced the release of the final version of Internet Explorer 8, the company's newest browser. The focus of Internet Explorer 8 is better standards compliance, security, and making "common online tasks faster and easier".   more > http://osnews.com/story/21163/Microsoft_Re...rnet_Explorer_8

"Over the weekend, I put Windows 7 build 7000 on my desktop and Windows 7 build 7057 on my laptop, and went through trying to spot as many changes between the two as I could. Although I go deeper than I did with build 7048, this is still not a comprehensive list. There is almost three months difference between the two builds: the beta was compiled on December 12, 2008, at 2:00pm and the leaked build 7057 was compiled on March 5, 2009, at 8:00pm, so there's a lot of work to cover. This post is ab