True to its word, Microsoft made available the RC build of Windows 7 today. Downloads were available to MSDN, TechNet & Connect sites. As I write this, I’m downloading what it calls the ‘base package,’ which includes both 32 and 64 bit versions of Windows 7. Since I have a 64 bit processor on my test box, this most likely is where I will start.

Microsoft has also released the minimum requirements to run Windows 7. As usual, the requirements are unrealistic and extremely downgraded. Here they are:

• 1 GHz or faster 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor
• 1 GB of RAM (32-bit)/2 GB of RAM (64-bit)
• 16 GB of available disk space (32-bit)/20 GB (64-bit)
• DirectX 9 graphics device with Windows Display Driver Model 1.0 or higher driver

I think 3 GB of RAM for the 32 bit and 4GB for the 64 bit is needed for good performance, plus a dual core processor. Just my 2 cents.

I’ll do the install over this weekend and report back next week what I find.

The public release is coming on May 5, 2009 so stay tuned for your own copy.

Comments welcome.