The other news is that Microsoft will be renewing the Customer Preview Program that allowed people to download and evaluate Vista Beta 2, so people who missed their last chance to download it from Microsoft's site will be able to sign up again for the RC1 release.
An exact date for RC1 hasn't been given, but it shouldn't be too far off, given the fact that a specific build number has been chosen for the release. The remaining time will be spent making sure the release candidate is suitable for public consumption and getting the servers ready for public distribution. Like all of Microsoft's betas, RC1 will be a time-limited release—Beta 2 expires on May 31, 2007, for example.
More...Credit: ars technica