1. It's most likely next week for RC1. One more beta is unlikely, but we have some more security-related stuff to do and a few bugs to fix.

2. hard to say about stability, for it's not going to be the RF version. I would assume it's going to be rather stable, but no guarantees. We do not plan ANY serious review in "after RC" naturally, all we want is to peacefully turn into the Final.

3. This one's tricky... Technically, RC can be converted into Final whenever we want, unless there's see more something really bad found during RC-stage testing (and this CAN happen for we all know people are going to use it for live sites and testing would be much more vigorous). So, my guess is as good as yours here. From the top of the head.. well, maybe 1 or 2. I actually want it released "yesterday" for now over 6 months.

4. Most definitely (disclaimer: this is not a promise, it's a "commitment", and expression of dedication if you will. Don't quote me here if it's not in, and you have your plans crashed).

5. As for auto-install... Funny thing, but you can actually find a desktop application for D7 auto installation ALREADY, so I would assume that yes, something will be available. BoonEx will provide upgrade tools after RC1, but I'm not sure which "form" r level of complexity would that be.