Microsoft made this release and opened the downloads to anyone on slow and fast servers on the 5th of May, you can find the file here, which is around 2 gigabytes and can be burned onto a standard sized DVD.  It’s special new feature is an XP Mode, so you can run a virtual copy of Windows XP SP3 pretty seamlessly.  It isn’t without its glitches though, it is after all just RC1.

Read on to make sure you know what you are doing, what you need to be able to do, and good reasons that will probably sway you to (or not to) go through with the change.

So why go through the trouble?  If you hated Vista or ever had any feelings of hate, anger, irritation, or pain towards it, Windows 7 probably solves these problems.  The UI has evolved more than in previous years, you dont need to download loads of stupid codecs, and its much more secure.  If you have Windows 7 your life is generally better in relation to your computer issues.

If you don’t want to reinstall and lose all of your files (Windows 7 RC1 has no upgrade option) there are some upgrade options people have worked up on the torrent sites, if you search around you can find one that does the update for you while saving your files.  I suggest just backing up anything you need and doing a fresh install.

IMPORTANT:  The installation will start going bad on March 1st, 2010.  Shutting down every two hours or so to remind you to go get an activated copy of another OS, in June your copy will stop working all together.  Just remember to read the “what you need to know” information on the download page before jumping in blind.  Some things you will need to know how to do to run the OS successfully are:

• Troubleshoot problems. You’re pretty much flying solo, so you’ll need to handle your own tech support, and rely on other RC testers for their know-how

• Burn an ISO file to make an installation DVD

• Install Windows

• Backup and restore your PC

• Set up a network

• Create and use a system recovery disk