As expected this week, anyone keen to experiment with the near final version of the Windows Vista Service Pack 2 is now free to do so as Microsoft just launched the latest Release Candidate (RC) of Windows Vista SP 2 to the general public.

Initially, the SP2 RC was only available to MSDN and TechNet subscribers as of last month. Now the company has made SP 2 RC available to the public today via their Customer Preview Program. It is available to anyone interested in testing SP2 for Windows Vista and/or Windows Server 2008 prior to the final release.

"By providing these fixes integrated into a single service pack, Microsoft provides a single high-quality update that minimises deployment and testing complexity for customers," according to an official blog announcement made Wednesday.

The service pack is a 388MB download through Microsoft's TechNet site. It's also available through Windows Update at a considerably more svelte 43MB.

The final version of SP2 will contain all previous bug fixes and patches, as well as support for Blu-ray, Bluetooth 2.1 and Windows Search 4, the latest version of Microsoft's desktop search technology.

"In addition to all previously released updates, SP2 will contain changes focused on addressing reliability and performance issues, supporting new kinds of hardware, and adding support for several emerging standards. SP2 will also continue to make it easier for IT administrators to deploy and manage large installations of Windows Server 2008."

While no shipping date has been confirmed, Microsoft previously announced it plans to deliver the final version during the second quarter of 2009.