14 DAY TRIAL // Just a day after information on Windows 7 Build 7100 made it into the wild, the actual bits for the fully fledged Release Candidate of the next iteration of the Windows client have been leaked and are now available for download via torrent trackers. Meanwhile, Microsoft has yet to confirm or deny Build 7100 as the RC of Windows 7, but Steven Sinofsky, senior vice president, Windows and Windows Live Engineering Group, did explain that the radio silence from Redmond was catalyzed by the amount of work and focus on the development process. But while the Redmond company is keeping mum on Windows 7 Build 7100, any user with a BitTorrent client can already start playing with the Release Candidate bits.
So far only the 32-bit version of Windows 7 RC Build 6.1.7100.0.winmain_win7rc .090421-1700 was leaked to torrent websites. The download weighs in at 2.35 GB and is available as an ISO image that has to be burnt on a DVD. As was the case with the vast majority of previous pre-release development milestones of Windows 7, the leaked RC Build 71000 offers the Ultimate SKU of the operating system. Testers can continue using the Windows 7 Beta Build 7000 product keys in order to activate the RC Build 7100 bits.
Microsoft has already managed to confirm, at least unofficially, that the RC for Windows 7 is just around the corner. The Redmond company's partners have already been served the bits, which explains the leak. Next in line to get their hands on Windows 7 Release Candidate Build 7100 are MSDN and TechNet subscribers, but not just yet. Downloads of Windows 7 RC Build 7100 are planned to go live on May 5, 2009. Hopefully, Microsoft has learned its lesson with Windows 7 Beta back in January 2009, and already has the necessary infrastructure in place for the public testing phase to kick off in full throttle.
