May 4, 2011 06:58 GMT  ·  By

Microsoft is extremely close to wrapping up the successor of Windows Fundamentals for Legacy PCs.

The last development milestone of Windows Thin PC (WinTPC) ahead of RTM is now available for download to early adopters via Microsoft Connect (as usual a valid Windows Live ID is required to access the bits).

The software giant is certainly moving extremely fast with the development of Windows Thin PC, which is offered as a locked down version of Windows 7, having introduced the Community Technology Preview release in late March 2011.

With WinTPC RC offered to testers, the Redmond company is now gearing up for the final development Build of the operating system.

“I’d like to take the opportunity to announce that we plan to Release to Manufacturing (RTM) within this quarter (Q2 CY2011). Windows Thin PC will be made available as an SA benefit, and customers with active SA or Windows VDA on their Windows PCs will be able to deploy Windows Thin PC to their environments after RTM,” noted Microsoft's Karri Alexion-Tiernan.

For the time being, customers will need to content themselves with testing the near-final Build of WinTPC, the first, and apparently only Release Candidate.

Alexion-Tiernan cited strong interest for the next generation of Windows Fundamentals for Legacy PCs, which has been rebranded as WinTPC, noting that more than 12,000 customers and partners signed up for the CTP, downloading the bits thousands of times.

“Customers like the reduced footprint of WinTPC – the machines they will likely use it on often have less disk space than brand new machines and WinTPC helps to ensure they will have adequate space,” Alexion-Tiernan stated.

“They also like the write filters which are helping customers to secure the device running WinTPC by preventing them from saving data or installing applications locally and they’re also pleased they can leverage their existing System Center products for management and deployment.”