I have to admit, I haven’t been this excited about an operating system for a long time, and that includes Mac OS versions that I normally get excited about. Microsoft released the first (and perhaps final) Windows 7 Release Candidate to the public yesterday, and anyone who wants to give the new OS a try has the opportunity to download it, grab a key, and install it on a system they choose.

Windows 7 RC is so polished that I know a number of people who are already using it as their primary operating system, although I still wouldn’t reccomend it – it’s not finished and it’s certainly not final – but it’s complete enough for most tasks, and even heavy PC gamers I’m familiar with are reporting that it’s much improved even over Windows Vista.

The fine folks at PC Mag have the full scoop on the release here:

[ PC Mag :: Microsoft’s Windows 7 RC Released to Public ]
[ PC Mag :: Hands on with Windows 7 RC ]

And if you’re interested in trying out the RC of Windows 7 for yourself, you can download it here:

[ Microsoft :: Welcome to Windows 7 ]
(I love how the guy on the right in their video is obviously using a Black Macbook, but they put the “I’m a PC” stickers over the logo to cover it. Nice Microsoft, nice.