Microsoft Corp. this week makes available the release candidate of Windows 7 operating system and also revealed finalized minimum system requirements for the forthcoming OS. According to the software giant, Windows 7 will be able to operate even on rather outdated systems, such as those equipped with 1GHz central processing unit and 1GB of memory.

“Listening to our partners and customers has been fundamental to the development of Windows 7. We heard them and worked hard to deliver the highest quality Release Candidate in the history of Windows. We have more partner support than we’ve ever had for an RC and are pleased to say that the Windows 7 RC has hit the quality and compatibility bar for enterprises to start putting it through its paces and testing in earnest,” said Bill Veghte, senior vice president for the Windows business at Microsoft.

With the release candidate, Microsoft is also providing guidance on the minimum system requirements for Windows 7. According to the company, Windows 7 will work on a broader array of hardware than any other release of Windows at launch. The official minimum system requirements are as follows:

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

Microsoft Windows 7 is projected to be officially released on the 23^rd of October, 2009.

It is widely known that Microsoft has been working hard to improve user interface as well as performance in Windows 7 and make the new OS much more user friendly overall. Many reviewers and early adopters agree that Microsoft has succeeded in improving its desktop OS dramatically. Microsoft Windows 7 will also bring numerous further improvements, including DirectX 11 application programming interface, as well as support for touch-based input.

Tags: Microsoft, Windows