January 30, 2009 (Computerworld) The head of Microsoft Corp’s Windows development confirmed that Windows 7 will take the unusual path of moving straight from a single beta, which was launched earlier this month, to a release candidate.

However, Steven Sinofsky, senior vice president in charge of the Windows engineering group, declined to spell out a timetable for the rest of the Windows 7’s development. .

"This is in no way an announcement of a ship date, change in plans or change in our previously described process,"said Sinofsky in a long entry to a company blog early Friday..

Although Microsoft said last year at several hardware conferences that it would jump from a public beta to a release candidate (RC), Sinofsky fleshed out the plan today and hinted that just as there would be no Beta 2, the company would also not provide a RC2 build..