Microsoft sets timing for Vista beta

Microsoft said Tuesday it is aiming to have all of the features that will ship in Vista, the next edition of Windows, completed by end of this year. A feature-complete beta will be ready early in 2006, it added. The full release is still slated for later that year.

However, the next release in its to the Community Technology Preview of Vista will not come until December, but will happen before the holidays. The first release in the CTP testing program was in October, and community testers had expected a monthly update in November.

CTP enables Microsoft to gather feedback more quickly than would be possible from using only a traditional beta program.