Microsoft sends out final test version of Vista

Microsoft on Friday issued what it hopes will be the last public test version of Windows Vista, as it works to put the final program in the hands of some businesses by next month.

The company said that Release Candidate 2 of the new operating system is being made available to its usual crop of technical testers and developers, as well as to some of the enthusiast consumers who are testing the earlier, RC1 version.

Microsoft did not change its timing for the software's final release, but did indicate that it could still miss its goals.

"As we stated from the beginnning of Windows Vista development, the quality of the product will always be our first priority," Microsoft said in a statement. "That said, Microsoft continues to target Windows Vista availability for volume license customers in November 2006 and general availability in January 2007, although the final delivery will be based on quality."

The software maker had hoped to have Vista on store shelves and in new PCs in time for this year's holiday season, but said in March that it would miss that date.

Analysts have been divided on whether Microsoft will make its revised goal. Goldman Sachs analyst Rick Sherlund said earlier Friday that Microsoft was on track to meet its current timetable, but Gartner has been predicting for some time that Microsoft would be forced to again delay the product.

The software maker is encouraging developers and others to provide feedback on any issues that remain unresolved in the latest test builds.

"Microsoft has continued to receive excellent feedback that is helping to improve the overall quality and performance of the product," it said. "RC2 reflects that feedback and includes important improvements in performance, application compatibility and 'fit and finish' work."

[Sumatra-Bosch]

God God! The Vistapocalypse is Almost Upon Us!

Imagine it: 3 years of non-stop 0-Day attacks, followed by patches, interim releases, press releases, repatched patches and parade upon parade of blue screens. Microsoft will never survive it.

Roberto

[iRhapsody]

The Little Man Never Get Attacked? Why? Coz' They Are Just Too Small To SEE

You must be some kind of perfectionist. There is no such thing as perfect software - every software has some vulnerabilities this or that - or currently none but to be discovered sooner or later. It's fortunate enough, these vulnerabilities are taken care in a timely manner without costing us a penny. Imaginably, the ubiquitous Windows would be targeted by thousands of hackers every second; either they are after money or fame; perhaps they just hate to admit the fact Windows' made Bill Gates the richest man on the earth. Nonetheless, they are not trying to attack things like Linux - I believe majority of Linux users are computer-savvy. Unlike the Windows users, mostly homeusers, merely know the basics, emails, word processing, internet surfing, etc.

[Gunady]

Please STOP..

Please stop using your stupid idiot term "Vistapocaly***". Some of you post this term anywhere. It just increase people interest of Windows Vista.

If you have ever built software, there is no free-bug software. There will be vulnerability in every software that is made by human, windows, linux, firefox, mac, etc. Have you ever heard for full one year, mozilla firefox never update its browser because of security. The more popular, the more person try to hack. Let put concern on how fast they fix and deliver the update. Microsoft, Mozilla, and other big software vendor has already had a good practice for updating their software so far.

[cary1]

can't wait for it!

waiting for Jan 2007!

[Gunner.tailhooker]

Good news!!!

I have tested all Beta2 and RC1 versions of Vista and the improvements and bug fixing are evident. And when i return to XP is when i see how old XP has become!!!.

Only one small problem. Multimonitor support could be better. In XP, i had my 845G and S3 PCI Graphics cards working perfectly, but not in Vista.

I would like to see how it integrates with 2000/2003 server and AD.

Bye.

[qwerty75]

Then you should try alternatives

And you will see how fat behind Vista already is.

[arzynik]

32 Bit version only

Visit <a class="jive-link-external" href="http://download.windowsvista.com/preview/rc2/en/download.htm" target="_newWindow">http://download.windowsvista.com/preview/rc2/en/download.htm</a>

Please note that 64bit rc2 is not yet available for download.

I am currently using 64bit vista rc1 and it feels much faster than 32.

[arzynik]

64bit now available

The 64bit version is now available on <a class="jive-link-external" href="http://download.windowsvista.com/preview/rc2/en/download.htm" target="_newWindow">http://download.windowsvista.com/preview/rc2/en/download.htm</a>

[Irish Texian]

I have the 64 bit version

I downloaded the 64 bit version today.

[omeromy]

Sweet time is coming

Recently I attended the Black Hat (Hackers) Convention held at Las Vegas, where Microsoft showcased Windows Vista and become the first vendor to host the entire day track of presentations on preleased products.

A definite outcry from the days when using Microsoft and security in same sentence was considered an oxymoron. The general feel in the convention was that Microsofts trust worthy computing has finally received traction and is beginning to show results, many also shared that they believe that the brand is moving in the right direction&

[MRMOAV]

May never Ship

I love some of the comments in their license agreement, like.."
this product may never see commercial release and may never
ship." I hope it doesn't, I would rather use XP then this tragedy.
Though a lot of my complaints are eye candy related rather then
bugs the UI is just terrible and the dark colors are really a poor
choice. Most women I've talked to hate it with a passion. Yes,
they will have more then 3 pathetic themes but, why isn't there
an XP theme at least that is bright and cheerful. Talking about
bugs there are still some horrible bugs lurking in Vista regarding
the file system. I am still having major issues transfering,
copying and deleting files in Vista...THESE ARE BASIC ISSUES
THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN FIXED MONTHS AGO. Though I
haven't had to many crashes I just don't enjoy the Vista
experience like I do XP and am really looking into leopard or
tiger or whatever they call it.

[rmiecznik]

yep

Vista is a copy of OS X, I hate MS for this, if they came up with their original idea, then maybe I would use them.

Just pathetic if you ask me, OS X rules.

All my friends are going Mac, no one wants a PC no more. My Win XP runs just fine, the 64 bit version that I have, I would like to see more products for and support.

Way to go MS, start hiring smart people!!!

[fred dunn]

Time for the VistaBot

This OS is going to go down fast. This is a "skip" version. This is Microsoft's biggest blunder since Microsoft Bob which was probably a far superior product than Vista.

[erniescar]

Not true

No. Windows ME was a skip version (or a toss in the trash version). Vista is pretty decent. It's not just another pretty OS. Behind the covers there's alot of great improvements. It's just too bad that the 'all hands on deck' effort spent on XP SP2 delayed Vista. This OS should have been out a year ago with the same feature set. And I image it must be difficult for them to include every feature that everyone wants without getting into anti-trust issues.

[Llib Setag]

Hurry! While Supplies Last!

The all new MS OSX 10.1 ("AstaLaVista") will ship just in time for for the MacWorld Expo SF unveiling of it's "mentor" Mac OSX 10.5 ("Leopard")...

Microsoft: Get the future from the past today!