Microsoft has made available the Release Candidate (RC) of Windows 7. Also available is a beta of Windows XP Mode, a compatibility tool to help users migrating from XP to Windows 7. The code will be generally available on 5 May from Microsoft's Windows site.
The RC code introduces a number of changes from the earlier beta release, many of these are under the hood and will not be noticeable to users. Many of the changes are based on customer feedback to the beta release, improving features such as Jump Lists and the multi-touch user interface.
"We've changed everything from major through to minor, but it won't look a lot different," said John Curran, Windows Business Group lead at Microsoft UK.
Windows XP Mode, disclosed earlier this week, will enable consumers and small business customers to run any software not compatible with Windows 7. It is available only for the Professional and Ultimate editions of Windows 7.
XP Mode is based on a forthcoming version of Virtual PC for Windows 7, but has been customized to hide the fact that applications are running in a virtual machine.
