Microsoft takes Internet Explorer 7 out of beta and makes the release candidate of IE 7 available for download this morning.

“The RC1 build includes improvements in performance, stability, security, and application compatibility. You may not notice many visible changes from the Beta 3 release; all we did was listen to your feedback, fix bugs that you reported, and make final adjustments to our CSS support.”

The RC installation requires not one but TWO restarts (it uninstalls any existing IE7 version first), plus it does a virtual pat-down and “validates” your copy of Windows AND it runs the Malicious Software Removal tool to make sure all’s kosher on your PC. After all that, you’re exhausted, but the new version does have a much speedier startup. IE7 RC is a free download, Windows only.

“…we may post another release candidate. We’re still on track to ship the final IE7 release in the 4th calendar quarter.”

http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/archive/2006/08/24/715752.aspx