Windows Vista RTM goes gold

Software, Cloud and Development Software & Tools
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Microsoft will delay the release of the RTM (release to manufacturing) version, or build number 5824, of its Windows Vista operating system (OS) to the second week of November from the originally scheduled fourth week of October, according to sources at Taiwan PC makers who were informed by the software giant of the revised schedule.

The RTM build 5824 was originally set to be released this week after reducing the number of bugs found in the Windows Vista Release Candidate 2 (RC2) version from 1,450 to around 500, the sources noted. However, additional bugs were found in the RTM build 5824 version, and together the bugs could paralyze an upgraded Vista-capable Windows XP OS, said the sources. Microsoft has overcome the problems found in RTM build 5824, resulting in RTM build 5840, added the sources, noting that Microsoft will continue to test the new version until its release in November.

Despite the delayed launch of the RTM version, Microsoft assured PC makers that its plan to launch the business-use and home-use Vista OS in November 2006 and January 2007, respectively, remain unchanged, the sources stated. Microsoft Taiwan said that the release of the business and home versions of Vista is on schedule as planned.

Microsoft reportedly delays release of RTM version of Vista

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ahh crap , hoping its for the better however

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so, I am expecting VISTA RC3.

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Vista RC3 wouldnt be released… But then why does any1 tell Allchin that he has shuffled the schedule too much. I think most of us would have been fired for changing a software schedule sooo many times… I think Allchin is one lucky and talented chap !!!

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Dailytech
Sources Say Windows Vista RTM Today

The final build number = 6000.16386.061101-2205

According to several reports, Microsoft pulled some overtime during the weekend and has finished Windows Vista.

The specific release to manufacturing (RTM) date has been up in the air ever since the release of Windows Vista RC2. Following some showstopping bugs, Microsoft was forced to delay its RTM date two weeks from October 25 to November 8.

Long time Microsoft aficionado Paul Thurrott wrote in a WinInfo update that Windows Vista would be hitting RTM status today, a full two days earlier than anticipated.

“My sources at the software giant confirmed this weekend that Microsoft is set to finalize Windows Vista as early as Monday and release the product to manufacturing. The final build number is expected to be 6000.16386.061101-2205, I’m told.”

Windows Vista may have been finalized even earlier if it weren’t for several late-appearing bugs which need to be squished, and another issue which was less usual – a power outage Friday evening prevented the Windows team from creating a new Vista build that night

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Dailytech

Microsoft wraps up development of Windows Vista

Microsoft announced today that Windows Vista has been released to manufacturing. Vista will mark the first big shift in Microsoft consumer operating systems in over 5 years.

With Vista, Microsoft promises increased security with an improved firewall and Windows Defender and User Account Control. Other fresh additions include integrated desktop search, Internet Explorer 7.0, Windows Sidebar, Windows Sideshow, built-in system diagnostics, improved gaming support, fully integrated Speech Recognition as well as support for Windows SuperFetch, Windows ReadyBoost and Windows ReadyDrive.

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MICROSOFT TODAY announced at 11am PST (7pm GMT) that the new Windows operating system Vista has gone gold and has been released to manufacturers (RTM).

Now the RTM has been announced the build should be readily available on MSDN according to Microsoft’s press release from Monday, which states:

“The availability to MSDN Premium subscribers of Windows Vista and the 2007 Microsoft Office system on release to manufacturing”.

However, a conference call with Microsoft today stated that it will appear on MSDN ‘within 7 days’.

As reported by the INQ last Thursday the release dates had already been leaked. Tuesday November 30th will see the release of Vista to corporate customers, and standard retail customers purchasing from stores or OEMs should be able to get their copy of the new Microsoft OS from Tuesday January 30th 2007.

The Windows Vista blog has been updated with the news reported serious degradation in near-final betas.

Vista finally goes final

Windows Vista Team Blog - Blogs

Video : Soapbox on MSN Video Beta

Screenshots : http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/winvista_rtm_galleries.asp

Q&A: Windows Vista Released to Manufacturing: As Windows Vista hits the Release to Manufacturing milestone, Microsoft looks back at what it took to build the most heavily tested, highest quality and most secure operating system in the company’s

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Check out Paut Thurrott’s updated review of Vista …

Windows XP is still good enough for most people, and that’s got to be a bit alarming to Microsoft at the dawn of the Windows Vista era. Three years ago, when you talked about features like instant desktop search, integrated RSS capabilities, safe Web browsing, and security, Windows Vista was an easy sell. Today, all of those features and more are available on Windows XP (and in other OSes), so the argument for Windows Vista is somewhat diminished.

Too, Windows XP is 100 percent compatible with all of the PC hardware and software out there. While there is little doubt that Windows Vista will improve over time–for example, Microsoft tells me that many hardware drivers will ship between Vista’s November 2006 RTM and its January 2007 consumer launch–for the short term at least, it’s a distant second to XP in those categories that matter most to many consumers. If you’re a gamer, you want to purchase a new game title and not have to worry whether it will run more slowly on Windows Vista, or not at all. And while that honking new PC is really pretty, if the version of IE 7 included on Windows Vista doesn’t work with your bank’s private Web site, all you’ll know is that Microsoft let you down.

The truth is, Windows XP’s successes are a problem because Microsoft now has a user base that’s gotten used to the company not shipping major OS upgrades that they can purchase and install. (Major Windows versions over the past 5 years, such as XP MCE, TPC, and XP Pro x64 have all typically only been sold with new PCs.) What’s another year or two?

Microsoft’s job, now, is to convince you that its previous Windows system, XP, is not good enough. I don’t envy them that task. And I don’t really have a stake in this argument either way. I’m sure Windows Vista will be a blockbuster release because of its many new features, cool new user interface, and enhanced security. And I’m sure that people who really care about computers will gravitate towards Vista like moths to a flame. It’s hard to ignore something this good.

http://www.winsupersite.com/reviews/winvista.asp

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The Tech Report - Windows Vista is gold, release set for Jan. 30

Microsoft has announced that Windows Vista has finally gone gold. The operating system is ready to be released to manufacturing and is now officially scheduled to hit retail stores on January 30, 2007. Volume license customers like corporations will be able to get their hands on the new OS two months earlier, on November 30. Office 2007, which went gold two days ago, is also scheduled to become available on November 30 …

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http://www.winsupersite.com/reviews/winvista.asp

Parts 1 and 2 are up.

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Had posted it already http://www.techenclave.com/forums/microsoft-push-vista-rtm-back-nov8-81103.html :slight_smile:

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But the problem with the five year gestation isn’t that OS X and Linux have caught up and in some ways surpassed Windows, which of course they have in some respects. The problem isn’t even that Microsoft promised us the world and then failed to deliver. No, the problem is that there’s another OS out there that runs just fine on over 400 million computers around the world. That system is stable, secure, and gets the job done. It’s Windows Vista’s biggest competitor. To be fair, it’s Windows Vista’s only competitor. Maybe you’ve heard of it: It’s called Windows XP.

Its the best paragraph in the entire article. Sums all of it very nicely. :lol:

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Competitors Tried to “Castrate” Vista

With Vista just released to manufacturing, Bill Gates told reporters in Europe that antitrust concerns had not caused Microsoft to cut features from the operating system. Gates insisted that “the idea that we should make Windows better is a pretty pro-consumer idea,” according to the Wall Street Journal. Although his company has had discussions for years with regulators, Gates said that none of them ever insisted that specific features be removed from Vista. The main regulator that concerns Microsoft is the European Commission, which has already fined the software giant millions of euros and has entertained visits from many Microsoft rivals. The Commission has repeatedly said that it will not issue an approval to products in advance, since doing so would amount to government censorship. And while the Commission itself may not have asked Microsoft to remove any features, the company was certainly aware of what competitors were making trips to Brussels.

These included several security vendors concerned about the expansion of Microsoft’s security offerings, and Gates had nothing postive to say about his rivals. He told reporters that competitors wanted to “castrate” the new operating system, which begs the obvious question: if Vista gets castrated, does it just become one of many UNIX?

Competitors did convince Microsoft to make some changes, but the company argues that it has not made Vista any less secure as a result. Sven Hallauer, the Director of Program Management at Microsoft, said in a separate statement that “security is top of mind for all who work at Microsoft.” He pointed to the company’s Secure Development Lifecycle plan for writing better code as an example of the process changes that Microsoft has made in order to increase security. Hallauer claims that an analysis of reported problems with Windows XP shows that the majority of them would be eliminated or reduced simply by switching to Vista. Business users can find out whether the hype matches the reality on November 30, when Microsoft is planning a launch party for its corporate customers. Consumers will have to wait until January 30.

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20061109-8189.html

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and the RTM already leaked on the web geee

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Vista MSDN RTM impresses

Suffice to say we’re impressed. Vista has come a significantly long way since the RC2 build. It’s polished, speedy, and looks good on the eye.

It’s hard to quantify just how much of an improvement in speed and responsiveness there is over the previous betas. Vista was incredibly sluggish on anything with under 2GB of RAM, but now seamlessly slides from one app to another with the minimum of fuss and disk-swapping on a machine with half the memory.

User account control (UAC) is still present. Some suspected this would disappear in the final release, but evidently it hasn’t. It’s annoying to the extreme and will be the first thing to be turned off by any users who can find it within the deluge of control panel options.

We’re surprised it made it this far, considering the negative feedback from beta testers and the press. It seems largely pointless and somewhat unproductive - users will just hit the ok button several times in an effort to rid themselves of the dialogs, with scant regard for what they’re actually saying. We suspect it will vanish from the next incarnation of Vista/Windows.

Installation was smooth, far smoother than any of the betas. Seamless installation on a Nvidia based SATA RAID, was the first time Vista has picked the correct drivers automatically, with no user-provision necessary. Only the Audigy drivers on the test PC weren’t found, and we had to resort to using RC1-compliant beta drivers from Creative, who are still struggling to provide the Soundblaster user base with any quality final drivers.

Start-up times are reminiscent of Windows XP, booting the test PC (Athlon64-3200, 1GB RAM) in under 30 seconds, as opposed to RC1/RC2 which took far longer.

Some of the other caveats we’ve previously reported on, are still present. User interface inconsistencies, and the removal of useful ‘up’ navigation icons within folder views are incredibly irritating and somewhat counter-intuitive to what has been learnt from previous version of Windows.

The smaller task tray and quick launch icons are still fairly basic, and don’t provide users with any clue of what they might do. This really should of discovered within usability testing, and we’re surprised these haven’t been adjusted.

The new Vista sounds are ok. Not too over-the-top or ridiculously long, and aren’t nearly as annoying as previous Windows audio inclusions.

Despite the niggles mentioned, Vista really has come far since earlier betas. Even releases from just several weeks ago have been eclipsed by the polished performance of the final build. It must be noted that this analysis is taken purely from how the system is perceived to perform, and not from timed results.

Despite the polished feel and decent performance, Vista still has relatively little to offer. Windows Media Player 11 and Internet Explorer 7 are both dowloadable for Windows XP. The majority of useful features for Vista fell by the wayside sometime ago, Vista just feels like XP with a glorified pretty interface and a sidebar that eats up more of your precious memory.

Still, the next version of DirectX is going to be Vista-only, so this may be reason enough to upgrade for a lot of people.

Vista MSDN RTM impresses