Just because Microsoft is reportedly planning mini-beta releases of Windows 7 does not mean that the Redmond company is sidetracking from the original plans for the next iteration of the Windows client. Steven Sinofsky, senior vice president, Windows and Windows Live Engineering Group, already confirmed officially that Windows 7 was scheduled to move straight into Release Candidate stage from Beta. At the same time, Sinofsky indicated that all Windows 7 development milestones post Beta Build 7000 were releases belonging to the RC-branch. The software giant has however said nothing about mini-beta builds of Windows 7.

Still, according to TheVista (via WinFuture), Microsoft will offer a localized copy of Windows 7 tailored to the Russian market for testing by the end of April 2009 under a mini-beta testing phase. At the end of the past month, the Redmond company managed to launch the Windows 7 TechNet Release Candidate page early indicating that the RC bits would be dropped in May 2009 in the following languages: English, German, Japanese, French, and Spanish (without Hindi or Arabic). Microsoft said absolutely nothing about a Russian flavor of Windows 7.

Radio silence is not an unusual aspect of the Windows 7 development process, and the company is reported to have sent emails inviting a select group of Russian testers to take the localized variant of the operating system for a spin. Apparently, the Windows 7 localized mini-beta releases are also builds from the RC branch, which will be served to testers through Microsoft Connect.

It is important to note that Microsoft has not offered any confirmation of the Windows 7 mini-beta testing stage through its official channels for the public. The latest development milestone confirmed via leaked information and screenshots is Windows 7 Build 7070. Moreover, the bits for Windows 7 Build 7068 were leaked to torrent trackers and are available for download from various third-party sources.