The next version of Windows 7 that Microsoft releases to the world will be the release candidate – not just another beta.

The Windows 7 Beta was first released last month, with the download period extended to next week.

Steven Sinofsky, head of the Windows development team, said in a blog post that he was looking to assuage concerns that users would have to revert back to their “old” operating system when the beta expires in August. Stressing that he was not announcing a ship date – or indeed, any change of plans – Sinofsky said that the next version will indeed be the release candidate (RC).

Once the RC is out, Microsoft will give Windows 7 to manufacturers so they can start installing it on new devices, after which it will become generally available to the rest of us. Sinofsky added that the RC will continue to function “long enough so no one should worry.”

But he warned that this time around, the development and release path was different than usual for Microsoft. “As we have said before, with Windows 7 we chose a slightly different approach which we were clear up front about and are all now experiencing together and out in the open.”

When Vista was released, one of the major complaints was that third-party developers and hardware manufacturers had been unable to create versions of their software or drivers for their kit for the OS. This could be a move on Microsoft’s part to address that previous mistake.

“One thing you might be seeing is that hardware and software vendors might be trying out updated drivers/software enhanced for Windows 7. For example, many of the anti-virus vendors already have released compatibility packs or updates that are automatically applied to your running installation,” he said, adding that any drivers for Vista all work on 7, and GPU chipsets and other drivers already work on the new system.

He noted that some complaints the team has received involve keyboard settings and defaults, but that there would likely be very few changes to the code. “We often ‘joke’ that this is the point of lowest productivity for the development team because we all come to work focused on the product but we write almost no code,” Sinofsky noted.