hi, RC will be realeased to MSDN\Technet\Connect client May 5. May 15 for public. Keys are still working and it's recommended to do a clean install, Microsoft don't support beta to RC upgrade (that's not something common)

Xsteacy - Yes, but it makes sense. They want "real world" scenarios tested. Let's say that Windows 7 is released in Jan 2010 - as promised. Where's the beta (which will expire on August 1st) be? The answer to that is long dead... They need people to test what WILL be happening (hopefully) once the release is cut loose.