Microsoft has issued a release candidate of Windows Thin PC, a stripped-down version of Windows 7 for thin clients, and will make the software widely available by the end of this quarter.

Microsoft launched a beta program at the end of March that attracted 12,000 customers and partners, and followed it up with a downloadable release candidate this week, the company said.

Beta testers told Microsoft they "like the reduced footprint" of Windows Thin PC, because "the machines they will likely use it on often have less disk space than brand new machines," Microsoft official Karri Alexion-Tiernan said in a blog post. Customers "also like the write filters which are helping customers to secure the device running WinTPC by preventing them from saving data or installing applications locally."

More: http://www.pcworld.com/article/226981/