Gearing up well in advance of October, Redmond has released beta v4.0 of its “Microsoft Assessment and Planning” (MAP) toolkit. Version 4 brings the ability to analyze and determine whether or not your machine is capable of running Windows 7. It will also enlighten you on your system’s ability to cope with a slew of other Microsoft products including Vista, Server 2008, SQL Server 2008 and Office 2007.

In addition to the recent extension on Windows 7 to XP downgrades, the company hopes this tool will aid with a smooth launch for and transition to their latest operating system. Unless you’re a curious home user, the MAP toolkit is more appropriate for weeding out the weak links in a corporate IT infrastructure.

If you simply want to test your PCs compatibility with Windows 7, make use of the lighter (6.3MB) Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor beta 1.0 (or test drive RC1). Otherwise, MAP v4 can be downloaded via TechNet, and requires Windows Server 2003, Vista or XP Pro to run.