The fully fledged Release Candidate of Windows 7 will be made available for download in May 2009, Microsoft revealed, by going live with the RC page for the next iteration of the Windows operating system on its portal for IT professionals. The webpage on the TechNet Evaluation Center, which was introduced early enough to constitute a leak, informs that “Windows 7 Release Candidate – Published: May 2009” is available for download. The software giant did not offer the actual bits for Windows 7 RC, and in this context, the latest RC-branch development milestone of Windows 7 available for download, although again not from Microsoft, remains Build 7057.

“Welcome to Windows 7 Release Candidate (RC) testing. We’re on our way to Windows 7, and the RC is a great opportunity for IT professionals like you to take Windows 7 and begin testing it in your real environment. You get to see what’s coming, and we get to see if our changes and fixes from the Beta testing are working correctly. We want to encourage you to install and actively test the RC code. This will help us ensure Windows 7 is the best possible release, and help you get ready for Windows 7 deployment,” reads the welcoming message from Microsoft on what was the “Windows 7 Release Candidate” Russian TechNet page (via Neowin).

Just as it was the case with the Beta Build 7000 release of Windows 7, Microsoft plans to keep the RC Build live for at least a month. At the same time, the Redmond company will not limit in any way the number of product keys offered for the Release Candidate, or the activation process of the Build for that matter. Testers will be able to take their time test driving the development milestone, as they will have until mid-2010 to play around with the Release Candidate of Windows 7.

“This is pre-release software, so please read the following to get an idea of the risks and key things you need to know before you try the RC. You don’t need to rush to get Windows 7 RC. The RC release will be available at least through June 2009 and we’re not limiting the number of product keys, so you have plenty of time. Watch the calendar. Windows 7 RC will expire on June 1, 2010. So if you install the RC release you’ll either need to upgrade to the final version of Windows 7 before that date, or install a prior version of Windows. (For more about installing Windows, see installation instructions,” reveals an excerpt from the documentation from the Win 7 RC TechNet page.

The first and only Release Candidate of Windows 7 will be served in both 32-bit and 64-bit flavors, and will be localized for the following languages: English, German, Japanese, French, and Spanish, but not for Hindi or Arabic.