Today, we released the next milestone on the Windows 7 release journey, something we call a Release Candidate or “RC”.  The release today is available to TechNet and MSDN subscribers and the release to the general public is on track for May 5 from the main Microsoft downloads website. 

Here are a few more links to places you can find out more about the RC:

• For Everyone (even though it’s mostly for people in the press): http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/presskits/windows7/
• For IT Professionals: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/dd361745.aspx

I know a lot of you have been testing the Windows 7 Beta release and I hope you’ll consider testing the Windows 7 RC release too.  It’s great to hear everyone’s feedback on what they like and don’t like, and really fun to hear about the new things you discover in the product.

For those of you that are members of our Windows community, I’ll look forward to reading some of your blog posts you share through the Clubhouse.  Your expertise and willingness to share your how-to tips and stories about using Windows 7 really makes the product come alive for millions of other Windows customers when they see your posts.

- Marcus, Windows Community Manager

As you’ve hopefully already heard by the time you read this, the Windows Live team made some very exciting announcements today, including partnerships with Digg, Facebook, and MySpace.  Here are a couple links with more details:

• Windows Live Team Blog Post
• Q&A with Brian Hall, General Manager of Windows Live

These announcements represent one of the things I like best about Microsoft.  We’re a partnering company.  We like to make sure our stuff works with other people’s stuff.  Whether it’s partnerships like today’s announcements or making sure your applications and hardware devices work with the next version of Windows, it’s core to our DNA as a company to want to partner with others in our industry.

Why do partnerships?  In the end, it’s about simplifying things for our customers.  That’s consumers like you and me.  And that’s businesses and organizations from the largest multi-national corporation all the way to that small gift shop around the corner.  When we do the work to partner with other companies, we make make our customer’s lives easier.

I hope you’re as jazzed about today’s announcements as I am.  What do you think?  Please let me know by commenting below.

- Marcus, Windows Community Manager

Our friends on the SkyDrive team just announced some updates, including a top requested feature for rearrange photos within albums.  If you have Silverlight installed, the changing the order of your pictures is is as simple as dragging and dropping:

Check out more on their blog entry here. 

- Marcus, Windows Community Manager

I’m jazzed for the upcoming release of Windows 7.  I’ve been running it for a few months now, and it’s really been smooth sailing.  Without a doubt, I can safely say it’s the best beta operating system I’ve ever tested.

To get a better understanding of Windows 7, I recently sat down with Parri Munsell, a Director in the Windows Product Management team.  Parri and I talked about what’s new in the release, some of his personal favorite features, as well as what he’s hearing from our customers and partners.  We also talked about what he think might be the “sleeper” feature of Windows 7.  You’ll have to take a listen to find out what it is.

You can download this specific podcast in the format you prefer using the links below:

• Windows 7 Overview (WMA format)
• Windows 7 Overview (MP3 format)

Or subscribe to the whole podcast series using these RSS links:

• Windows Community Podcast Series (WMA format)
• Windows Community Podcast Series (MP3 format)

In the weeks and months ahead, I’ll be taking my digital recorder around to talk with other Microsoft employees involved in Windows 7 to dig in deeper on selected topics.  What would you like to see in future podcasts?  Please just let me know by leaving a comment.

- Marcus, Windows Community Manager