Here is the link to the post about release candidate one. All the coding is done from end to end. The code is currently under a "freeze", meaning no new features, only bug fixes are being accepting between now and reaching milestone 1 / launch of the live beta.

http://blog.factom.org/post/124249017699/technical-update-release-candidate-one

You and anyone else tech savvy are welcome to join the testing community of folks installing and trying out the functions of the Factom client, participating in the stress test and otherwise finding ways to make the software more robust. Just hit up BrianDeery1 on Skype if you want to be added to the testing group.

Here is the link to the install guide. https://github.com/FactomProject/FactomDocs/blob/master/communityTesterDirections.md

The Factom core developers are targeting next week for release candidate two. Presuming no major bugs are discovered in RC2 the Beta will come shortly after that.

That's about as close to a schedule as one can get. The goal is to have robust software that will work when the genesis block goes live at the launch of the Beta. Security is the top priority. Real value is at stake in this software and so the team is running a huge number of tests (currently more than 179 per day) in order to be confident Factom is stable and preforming as expected.

I hope that sets the schedule in context. Its all open source / open development so you are welcome to track the progress on Factom's Github repos.