While public availability will be staggered to May 5, the much-awaited Windows 7 release candidate will be available first to developers on the Microsoft Developers’ Network by the end of this month on April 30.  The news was announced by Microsoft’s Brandon LeBlanc on the Windows Team Blog recently and he had this to say:

There certainly has been a lot of discussion about Windows 7 in the last few weeks. A lot of folks want to know when they can get their hands on the official RC, when we are going to RTM, and what I had for breakfast.  I’m pleased to share that the RC is on track for April 30th for  download by MSDN and TechNet subscribers. Broader, public availability will begin on May 5th.

We will keep you posted when the Windows 7 RC is ready for download, so stay tuned