Vista Betas, RCs Near Termination Date
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Remaining users of the beta or Release Candidate versions of Windows Vista have until Friday to update to a final version.
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Now that Microsoft has set a release date for both the beta and final versions of Windows Vista Service Pack 1, the company is also offering a detailed look at what's being fixed and changed. One thing customers will not see is major changes to User Account Control, although Microsoft says it will reduce some pop-ups.
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Vista's first service pack addresses performance and reliability. Also on tap: a beta of the third and final service pack for Windows XP.
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(InfoWorld) - Microsoft Corp. Friday released what it believes will be the last test version of Windows VistaÂ before the product is released to manufacturing. The company made Vista Release Candidate 2 (RC2), or build No. 5744, available to participants of its Customer Preview Program, as well as to TechBeta, TechNet, Technology Adoption Program and MSDN members. TheÂ previous test release of Vista, RC1, received "excellent feedback" from the estimated 3 million people who tested it, according to Microsoft. The company is using that to put the finishing touches on the overall quality and performance of the OS, it said. Microsoft said that it is still on target to release Vista to business customers next month and consumers in January 2007, though the company continues to give itself an out to miss those dates by saying that the quality of the product is its highest priority. The release of Vista has already been delayed several times. Still, leading financial analyst Rick Sherlund of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said in a research note this week that he believes all indicators point to a timely release for Vista. "We had been skeptical of the launch scheduleÂ after Beta 2 shipped with problems in May, but the team seems to be making great progress in addressing issues of performance, reliability and compatibility," he wrote in his note. Sherlund also said in his report he expects Microsoft will soon be releasing discount coupons for Vista to customers who purchase PCs that are capable of running Vista before the OS is available. Microsoft has confirmed it has plans to do this, but has officially remained mum on the time frame. However, in his report Sherlund wrote that Goldman Sachs has recently updated its financial outlook for Microsoft based upon both a timely release date for Vista and the imminent release of upgrade coupons.
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With the first end date deadline for the general availability of Windows XP just six months away, June 30, 2008, there are a number of XP licensing questions that are still on the minds of internal licensing desk managers and enterprise IT departments.Part of the confusion comes from the terminology Microsoft uses to describe the end date for license availability, and part comes from the lack of a simple description of what the terminology actually means.Following conversations with three different Microsoft Volume Licensing Specialists, most of InfoWorld's questions have been answered.There are basically just three types of system licenses available:* An FPP (Full Packaged Product) license, which is the boxed, shrink-wrapped version consumers obtain from retailers. * A Direct OEM/System Builder license, which comes in two versions. For the most part, a Direct OEM license is what a computer manufacturer like Dell, HP, or Lenovo would have preinstalled on the systems they sell. An OEM System Builder license is targeted more at VARs (Value Added Resellers), LARs (Large Account Resellers), and smaller white-box manufacturers who are registered with Microsoft but who buy their license through a distributor like Ingram Micro. * Volume Licensing programs, which include large enterprises as well as government and educational institutions. Volume licenses cover only Windows Client upgrades; otherwise the full operating system license is acquired as FPP or through either Direct OEM or OEM System Builder.The only OS license available through a Volume program is a Windows Vista Business Upgrade. Companies must already have a qualified OS on their systems, such as XP, so terms of buying XP rather than Vista, this scenario is moot. Therefore, the Microsoft end date availability is based on FPP and both versions of the OEM licensing systems.Both FPP licenses purchased from a retailer and Direct OEM licensees have a June 30, 2008 cutoff date for ordering an XP license.This does not mean a retailer or an OEM cannot sell XP after that date. It means neither entity can order XP after that date. If a retailer or an OEM wanted to order thousands of PCs with XP installed they can do so as long as the order is placed before June 30.An OEM System Builder License, used by VARs, LARS, and white-box manufacturers and sold through distribution, have a January 31, 2009 cutoff date for ordering an XP license. Again, if the distributor has enough XP inventory before the January 31 cutoff, it can keep selling XP, and resellers can keep buying it until there is no more inventory, so to speak, left.The same deadlines apply if you wanted to purchase additional licenses for additional virtual machines. It does not matter. Also bear in mind that the preinstalled operating system may not be transferred to another PC.Some complications arise due to the fact that some direct OEMs also have System Builder licenses. It is unclear how that affects their sales to the retail market or if selling direct to their largest customers.If a company discovers it needs more XP-enabled systems but the ordering date is past and the distributors they order from have no XP inventory left, is it too late? The surprising answer is no. Companies can trigger the so-called downgrade option. Microsoft will allow companies to downgrade to XP after an initial purchase of Vista. In other words, if the deadline has come and gone the company orders X number of computers from their supplier with Vista, it then uses the downgrade option to reinstall XP.One Volume Licensing Specialists at Microsoft said that while this may appear to be paying twice for one operating system this is not the case. The purchaser simply owns both OSes, and if in a year or two the company decides to finally upgrade to Vista, it already owns that license.What if your company has a site licenses for, say, 5,000 copies of XP and have used only 4,500. Can it get the other 500 of XP indefinitely? The answer is yes, if they were ordered before the deadline. "This is a perpetual license," said one of the specialists.In point of fact, the current XP ordering deadlines are nothing new, according to Rob Horwitz, CEO of Microsoft Directions, an independent company that follows Microsoft technology. OEMs have always been given about two years to transition to the new operating system, said Horwitz. "In the beginning, Microsoft thought they could speed up the time for shifting to the next OS, but certain realities came into play, such as responding to customer demand for more driver availability and bug fixes in Vista," said Horwitz.
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Although Windows Vista officially launched for businesses back in November, Microsoft waited until today to release the final version of its Application Compatibility Toolkit for the new operating system. The software is designed to diagnose any potential problems that may arise from upgrading.
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The server release, expected to be released to manufacturing before the end of the year, is now slated to be finalized
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Microsoft now says its Vista Service Pack 1 will become available to some business users before the end of this month -- an about-face from the software giant's earlier announcement of a delay of up to six weeks to fix a performance issue.
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Backing off a claim that appeared to have been made in last month's agreement update with antitrust regulators, Microsoft on Thursday said that the beta of Windows Vista Service Pack (SP1) is not imminent.
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The U.S. Department of Justice and state attorneys general are concerned that Microsoft is revising deadlines that it agreed to as part of its antitrust settlement. At issue are changes that Microsoft says it needs to make in the schedule for releasing documentation related to Vista, according to a court document filed Tuesday.
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Ilia Alshanetsky has an announcement on his blog today about the release of the next candidate for the upcoming PHP 5.2 series - PHP 5.2.0RC5.    After 2 weeks of inaction 5.2.0 final release is finally in sight. A few minutes ago I've released the last (I mean it this time) release candidate of 5.2.0, RC5. If all goes well a week from now 5.2.0 final will be out ready for use. In the meantime I'd like to ask once again that everyone try this RC, which can downloaded from here.   I don't think you'd be able to find any major issues or regressions in this RC, but if you do certainly let me know, if necessary RC6 is not out of the question.    The more this new release is downloaded and tested, the faster we all get PHP 5.2 - so get out there and get testing!   The Windows builds have also already been created courtesy of Edin Kadribasic.
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A beta of the first service pack for Windows Vista could come any day now, with a final release by November, sources close to the company say.
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(InfoWorld) - Microsoft Corp.'s Office 2007 suite is nearing the end of its long testing process. Microsoft on Thursday will offer a refresh of beta 2, the last external test release of the product before it is released to manufacturing, the company said. Office 2007 Beta 2 Technical Refresh will feature improved performance, enhancements to its collaboration tools and tighter integration across the individual products, Microsoft said. It also will include improvements in the general look and feel of the suite. Users canÂ download the beta 2 refresh of Office 2007 for free. Beta 2 of Office 2007 was originally released in late May. In the first two months of its public release, it was downloaded more than 3 million times by beta testers, so Microsoft began charging users US$1.50 to download the release at the end of July. The company beganÂ allowing users to test Office online with a Web-based test version of the suite in June. Like its sister product Windows Vista, Office 2007 has been delayed several times, but the company's latest target for release is to have it in the hands of business customers before the end of the year and consumers in the first quarter of 2007. However, online retailerÂ Amazon.com Inc. is already taking orders for Office 2007, and lists the product's ship date as Jan. 30, 2007. Vista, the next major update to Microsoft's Windows client OS, is also expected to be in general release at the same time, and will get to business customers in November, according to its current schedule. Office 2007 features a new user interface and a host of enhancements to its applications that allow users to work together in a collaborative environment.
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As expected, Microsoft on Friday issued the second release candidate of Windows Vista - the last public build before the next-generation operating system is released to manufacturing. As with the interim build before it, RC2 will be available to a limited number of CPP participants.
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Microsoft is delaying the rollout of Vista SP1 (Service Pack 1) for several weeks in order to address problems arising from the use of a small number of device drivers that do not conform to the software giant's installation guidelines.
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By Bill Husted, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution  Jan. 28--LET OTHERS SORT OUT FLAWS OF WINDOWS VISTA: It's finally here.   Windows Vista, the long-awaited successor to XP, hits stores on Tuesday.  You'll be hearing a lot about it between now and then.
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(InfoWorld) - MicrosoftÂ could pull the trigger on putting out a beta of the first service pack for Windows Vista any day with a final release by November, sources close to the company said. Microsoft has been mum about exactly what will be included in Windows Vista Service Pack 1, a rollup of updates for the OS, many of which are pushed out automatically through its Web-based update services. The company also has not said when the software will be in final release --Â the latest from the company revealed only that a beta will be out sometime before the end of the year. The WinBeta.org blog reported Tuesday in a post that Microsoft 's WDK (Windows Driver Kit) team sent out an e-mail to beta testers that a new build of the WDK was being released to them to coincide "with the recent OS beta release for Vista SP1 Preview," hinting that SP1 beta is soon to be sent to testers. Others speculate Microsoft might release the SP1 beta Thursday, the day it will report the company's fiscal 2007 fourth quarter and year-end financial results. In an interview Wednesday, one source close to the company said he had been told by insiders that a beta of SP1 would be out by now, so an imminent release is highly likely. And another source said that beta testers report SP1 will definitely be out this week with a final release coming in November or December. At Microsoft's Worldwide Partner Conference in Denver two weeks ago, Mike Sievert, corporate vice president of the Windows business group at Microsoft, toed the party line on Vista SP1 and said little about when it would be released or what would be in it and hinted that Microsoft's own plans for the service pack are still in flux. Sievert also downplayed the software's role in when some Windows users will upgrade to Vista, though it's widely known many users -- especially business and enterprise customers -- are waiting for SP1 before replacing Windows XP with Vista. "Most companies are still in the evaluation phase," he said in an interview. "Service pack or no service pack, they're still looking at what they will deploy."