Closure of RC2, Feedback Handling in the New York Times, and Licensing Information for Windows

Nick White — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 22:08:00 GMT

As you've probably already surmised, downloads of Windows Vista RC2 for the Customer Preview Program (CPP) have now closed and the links are no longer active. We were bowled over by your response to RC2 -- in fact, we hit our download target (200K+) within 72 hours of propping the files! This is an incredible response.

Special thanks go out to everyone who participated in the CPP by downloading and installing this new build, and please keep the feedback coming -- it makes a huge difference.

If you want another take on how your feedback helps and how the team tracks it, check out this story in the tech section of the New York Times. (The story also has a good photo of the Life Cycle team -- that’s Sven Hallauer, Director of the Life Cycle team, in the black t-shirt, second from the left. For more from Sven on the process of getting builds out to the public and what RC2 is all about, check out this podcast).

The amount of information coming out of the Windows Team between now and business availability in November is going to be daunting, but we’re really excited about Windows Vista and we know you are, too, so we’ll do our best to give you as much detail as soon and as often as we can.

On that note, today MS.com published the retail license terms for Windows Vista; you can find them here. Two notable changes between Windows Vista license terms and those for Windows XP are: 1) failure of a validation check results in the loss of access to specific features (this is the SPP news you’ve likely been reading about this past week); and 2) an increase in our warranty period from 90 days to 1 year, which brings Windows in line with most other Microsoft products.

Windows Vista RC2 is now available to technical beta testers!

Nick White — Fri, 06 Oct 2006 19:15:00 GMT

Today, Microsoft is excited to announce the availability of Windows Vista RC2 to Technical Beta Testers, TAP Testers, and MSDN/TechNet subscribers. This new build of Windows Vista offers users a higher level of performance and stability – improving what was established in Windows Vista RC1. We were able to also fix many of your bugs reported from RC1 and implement them for RC2. Thank you to our beta testers for the bugs and feedback you submitted for RC1. The improvement shows as we raised our quality bar even higher!

Platforms and Services Co-President Jim Allchin has just posted a special announcement letter of RC2 to Microsoft Connect for the Windows Vista Technical Beta Testers. I’d like to reproduce the letter here for all to read:

People asked for it, and here it is, Windows Vista RC2! We wanted you to be the first to get these bits; next week they’ll be available to a broader set of customers via MSDN and TechNet.

All your great feedback has helped us focus on nothing but bug fixes over the past month since RC 1 — each and every day. There are thousands of quality improvements since Windows Vista RC1. You’ll probably notice improvements in performance, application compatibility, as well as fit and finish work. We will continue improving quality until RTM. If you are an ISV, please use this build (certainly at least RC1 or later) to get certified. Visit www.innovateonvista.com for more information on logo certification.

You are integral to this creation and refinement process. We are just around the corner from RTM and shipping this great product to the world. This will be the last build made available prior to RTM, so please keep the feedback coming so we can hit the finish line. Thanks for your help in finishing the job!

jim

I encourage you to download and install Windows Vista RC2. We’re almost finished with Windows Vista – RTM is almost here. Submit as many bugs as you can as we continue to work hard toward shipping.

UPDATE: Windows Vista RC2 is now available to Customer Preview Program participants for a limited time. If you’re in the CPP use these links to access RC2:

Download: Windows Vista RC2 (x86 and x64) English
Download: Windows Vista RC2 (x86 and x64) German
Download: Windows Vista RC2 (x86 and x64) Japanese

Windows Vista Team Blog : Windows Vista RC2

Closure of RC2, Feedback Handling in the New York Times, and Licensing Information for Windows

Windows Vista RC2 is now available to technical beta testers!