Back in January 2009, Microsoft, via a spokesperson, confirmed exclusively to Softpedia that, although the Windows 7 Beta Build 7000 release was feature-complete, a few features were being kept back, and were planned to be surfaced at a later date, unspecified at that point in time. The Redmond company is now reportedly gearing up to unveil major surprises for the next iteration of the Windows operating system in concordance with the upcoming Release Candidate development milestone. Microsoft had a “couple of additional, quite major announcements," revealed Windows OEM manager, Laurence Painell, from Microsoft UK.

Painell failed to specify whether the couple of major new Windows 7 announcements were related in any way to the introduction of new features, in the discussion with PC Pro. Since the delivery of Beta Build 7000, Microsoft has been providing a steady stream of modifications to Windows 7 as the operating system makes its way to Release Candidate. Builds from the RC branch, such as 7048, 7057 and 7068, are illustrative examples of Windows 7's evolution.

There is no telling whether the software giant has done away with all the features it was planning to add to Windows 7 back in January, or if additional changes are in store. Just because Windows 7 was advertised as feature-complete with the debut of the Beta release, it does not mean that the client was set in stone. The differences between the leaked builds 7048, 7056, and 7068 and Beta Build 7000 offer a clear indication that users would not be wrong to expect even more surprises.

And with Microsoft yet to unveil the new announcements, the platform's forthcoming RC development milestone will be synonymous with Windows 7 growing into its own. In this regard, the Beta to RC level of evolution should not be expected from RC to RTM, as the software giant will focus on softening the rough edges of the OS in preparation for the release to manufacturing.

At International CTIA Wireless 2009 in Las Vegas, on April 2, 2009, Robbie Bach, president of Microsoft’s Entertainment &Devices Division, pointed out that Windows 7 was already leaner, meaner and more secure than previous Windows releases.

“I'm very excited about this as a product. I use it myself. It's tremendously stable. It's faster. It's easier to use. My every day tasks have gotten much simpler. And really what people want with their PC is, they want those every day tasks easier. They want the machine to do what they want, and to make it work simply. And they want it to learn and do more advanced complex tasks in a very easy way,” Bach revealed.