Is Windows 7 Ahead of Schedule?

There are rumors floating around that Windows 7 Release Candidate 1 has already been built. If these rumors are true, then it would seem like Windows 7 is way ahead of schedule. Softpedia has reported that the latest leak of Window 7 is build 7048.winmain_win7rc1.090211-1625. Notice the inclusion of rc1 in the name. And would you believe if someone says that RC1 will be released on April 2009?