Finally it has been confirmed that Windows 7 would be released in the holiday season this year.Here is what the Microsoft Senior Vice President Bill Veghte said “A holiday release is accomplishable,” which clearly states that Windows 7 would be available this year during the holiday season.
Further adding to it Paul Thurrott said that his expectation is that Microsoft will finalize Windows in late July or August and begin selling it to customers in September.

The release notes for Windows Virtual PC Beta has been available and can be downloaded here
Here is what the download page reads
Windows Virtual PC (Beta) is the latest Microsoft virtualization technology that allows you to run many productivity applications on a virtual Windows environment, with a single click, directly from a Windows 7-based PC. For more information about Windows Virtual PC, please visit the Windows Virtual PC website. The Release notes provide important information you should know prior to installing and using Windows Virtual PC, including known issues. You should …

According to the Microsoft Press site beta version of  Windows XP Mode will be made available on April 30.Windows XP mode allows users of Windows 7 Professional and above to launch many older Windows XP productivity applications directly from their Windows 7 desktop. The Windows XP Mode stand-alone feature is specifically designed to help small businesses that are using Windows XP applications move to Windows 7. For larger businesses, Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization (MED-V) MED-V 2.0 builds on top of Windows Virtual PC and provides centralized management of Windows XP …

Talking About Windows is a new website that offers a behind-the-scenes look at the making of Windows 7 from the Microsoft engineers who helped build product as well as showcasing real IT Professionals talking candidly about their implementations and experiences in considering a more modern OS. This is done through a series of videos hosted within the Talking About Windows Website.

Through Talking About Windows, IT Professionals can listen as our engineers discuss why certain product decisions and feature trade-offs were made in Windows 7 from the likes of Mark …

It has been confirmed that Windows 7 RC build 7100 has been leaked and is available for download on various torrent sites.Here are the details of the build
Windows 7 RC build 7100 x86
MICROSOFT.WINDOWS.7.ULTIMATE.X86.RC1.RETAIL.ENGLISH.DVD.ISO-MSFT BUILD: 7100.0.090421-1700 7100.0.090421-1700_x86fre_client_en-us_Retail_Ultimate-GRC1CULFRER_EN_DVD.iso SIZE: 2530975744 bytes CRC: E8A1C394 MD5: 8867C13330F56A93944BCD46DCD73590 SHA1: 7D1F486CA569EFFFFB719CFB48355BB7BF499712
Windows 7 RC build 7100 x64
MICROSOFT.WINDOWS.7.ULTIMATE.X64.RC1.RETAIL.ENGLISH.DVD.ISO-MSFT BUILD: 7100.0.090421-1700 7100.0.090421-1700_x64fre_client_en-us_Retail_Ultimate-GRC1CULXFRER_EN_DVD.iso SIZE: 3,270,828,032 bytes …

There is a new Windows 7 BETA power management whitepaper available.  Key points from the whitepaper include:

Improved idle efficiency – Windows 7 reduces resource utilisation when the system is idle and reduces or eliminates background activity on the system.
Timer Coalescing – for background activity that cannot be reduced, Windows 7 has been modified to defer then execute non-critical background activity at once.  It also defers non-critical background activity when on battery power.
Trigger start services – when your computer boots it loads a number of system services …

According to the Microsoft partner site,Windows 7 RC would be available on 5th May.Adding to it the site reads that Windows 7 RC is now available on MSDN and TechNet.I just checked the TechNet but it wasn’t able till yet so we could expect it within the next couple of hours.
Here is what the Microsoft partner site reads
We are pleased to announce that Windows 7 Release Candidate (RC) is available. Windows 7 RC is the prerelease version of Windows 7. Since this is not the final release, your PC will …

Please join us for Windows 7 Virtual Readiness Day online on May 9. The online meeting begins at 8 am Pacific, 11 am Eastern.
At this event you will have the opportunity to learn about Windows 7, the next-generation operating system from Microsoft. Online attendees can take advantage of the readiness and marketing tools made available specifically for partners to help prepare for the Windows 7 business opportunity. 
Windows 7 Partner Readiness Day will provide the resources you need to become a Windows 7 expert and help better prepare you …

The alpha toolkit for the Windows 7 Software Logo Program is now available. The toolkit provides you with a quick and agile, automated, light weight command-line tool to verify their application’s compliance against the technical requirements.
The toolkit is being made available and supported through the Windows 7 Software Logo Connect site. Anyone can access the connect site, but to download the alpha toolkit or leave feedback, you need to have an invitation code. Sign up to receive updates to get the code.
More information about the alpha toolkit is available at …

The software maker is preparing to disclose significant news about its next operating system.
Microsoft  will make “major new announcements” relating to its forthcoming Windows 7 operating system when it launches the Release Candidate of the OS, according to a British technology news site.
Microsoft Windows OEM manager Laurence Painell told PC Pro that the company plans a “couple of additional, quite major announcements” at the time it releases Windows 7 RC. The Release Candidate will likely ship in May, though Microsoft has yet to formally confirm a date.
Painell …