Just One More Release Before Windows Vista Goes Gold

At last Microsoft is making some noises about just how close Vista is to a RTM date, well we've heard all this before but sooner or later one of the rumors will be true, so lets hope its this one

Microsoft will release just one more build of Windows Vista for testing before the code goes gold, said Brad Goldberg, the general manager for the Windows client business group

That build will be made available to a limited group of between 50,000 and 100,000 testers in October, and follows the interim Vista build that Microsoft released on Sept. 22.

Goldberg declined to say if this final test build would be known as Release Candidate 2, adding that the company is focused, from an engineering perspective, on targeting the group of testers from whom it most wants one last set of feedback.

Goldberg, who was on a cross-country tour in late September designed to get the message out about the business value and benefits that Vista brings, also said Vista is on track for availability to businesses via volume licensing in November, with broad general availability to consumers set for January 2007.

Microsoft said it expects 10 times more seats of Windows Vista to be deployed at launch, with deployment within the first year being twice as quick as that for any other version, and business customers deploying it faster than for any other Windows operating system release, he said.

Windows Vista has been built for businesses, from the very beginning onward, and is also providing the tools and services that businesses need to help them adopt the operating system earlier than they have in the past, he said.

"From the earliest stages of Windows Vista engineering development, we had a core group of customers who would come up every few months and spend a few days with the team, reviewing early builds and giving feedback. That was then expanded to 500 TAP [Technology Adoption Program] customers to get business requirements into the product," he said.

The number of TAP customers for Vista is 10 times larger than for previous versions of Windows, he added.

Microsoft also looked at what it needed to do with tools, like the application compatibility toolkit, which was historically developed after the product was finished. In Vista these tools were developed in conjunction with Vista, he said.

Microsoft has also learned some lessons from its experience with Windows XP and the primary inhibitors to Windows XP, which included issues with internal and third-party application compatibility, the perception that the cost outweighed the perceived benefits to be gained, as well as the hardware compatibility issues.

Soucrce http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2022621,00.asp