Will Vista Rtm be released for testing

[Will]

Here's a question
Will Vista RTm be released for testing to anyone at all ?
Or will that be inerternally tested?

I'm pretty sure the answer from those in the know will be no. But I was just
wondering about the process seeing RC2 build 5744 will certainly need some
adjustments before it can be considdered good enough.
And the RTM build will certainly need testing I was just wondering who will
do that testing ? Tech beta? MSDN? the Public? or MSFT themselves
or will patches be released for RC2 till it's up to the right standard?

 

[Rick Rogers]

Hi,

RTM is not released for testing, it is released for sale. 5744 is the last
build that will be released for testing and feedback purposes for any
external group.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org

 

[Will]

OK I was just wondering
I would of thought they wouldn't release it for testing

The reason I asked was that I found an Iso image of Xp media center 2005 on
a HDD that was recently given to me
and it was clearly a proposed rtm build or a release candidate because it
came with a whole bunch of patches and files ect with instructions from MSFT
on what to test and which patches to use.
I have since deleted it all

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

By definition (rtm = release to manufacturing) one would not "test" the
released software. RC2 is "Release Candidate 2" and is therefore the
release that is for testing. What you suggest would be like continuing to
vote after the candidate is already elected (excuse me if you happen to live
in Florida ).

 

[Will]

Lol no I don't live in florida

No I was just wondering what happens with testing after this seeing this is
supposedly the final release candidate.
It's running well with my system but some aren't as lucky so I guess there
are definately some issues that need to be addressed before MSFT can
confidently say this is it lets go to RTM

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

Well the release candidate is not the Gold release, so external testing and
bugfixing continues. It continues even after Gold, but the only change
after Gold is in the patch numbering, not the build number.

 

[Richard Urban]

RTM (released to manufacturing) is the end of the line. No more testing. If
they find anything new, it is included in a service pack.

--

Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
(For email, remove the obvious from my address)

Quote from George Ankner:
If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

And hotfixes and patches.

RTM (released to manufacturing) is the end of the line. No more testing.
If they find anything new, it is included in a service pack.

--

Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
(For email, remove the obvious from my address)

Quote from George Ankner:
If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!

 

[Chad Harris]

RTM will start about a 6 year cycle of testing. The service packs will have
90%of their real estate occupied by hotfix security patches for IE7 and
other vulnerabilities in Vista.

The features that will ship broken you will discover and you will pay a high
price fot he privilege of doing it. But you have the pleasure of
subsidizing a lot of toys that cruise around Redmond and other parts of
upscale Seattle.

Enjoy living vicariously through the toys you will buy for Softies.

Best,

CH

 

[Will]

I'm reasonably happy with Vista and the way it performs on my system
my system specs are ;
Asus P4P800S-X mobo
P4 3.0 Ghz prescott core ht enabled Cpu
1Gb DDR400 ram
Kingston Data traveller 512Mb Ready Boost
Nvidia 6200 256Mb agp video
Twinhan digital Tuner card
Western Digital 40Gb ide (promary hdd)
Western Digital 250Gb Sata (secondary hdd)
pioneer 107D DVD-RW

However I intend upgrading to a 64bit system and 64 bit Vista final release.
and I'm not sure what I will be letting myself into I could be letting
myself in for a whole bunch of issues that I don't have at the moment
That why I'm asking about testing of this release and what the RTM holds for
us all

 

[Chad Harris]

Will--

You will not be letting yourself in "for a whole bunch of issues" in the
sense that you mean it. You need not worry about that. The 3rd party
companies have been too slow; they always will be, but when RTM is available
those problems will subside rapidly.

There are parts of Vista that could have been better, plenty that never
didn't get included that was written about and talked about, but you will
be able to run it well and you are wise to run it on a 64 bit system because
the future is going to bring a lot of ancillary software keyed towards 64
bit systems.

Many of the issues that come up will be covered on the Technet site so
frequent it often.

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/windowsvista/default.mspx

Also many issues or how tos will be available via the KBs so from time to
time search at http://support.microsoft.com/search with the word vista or
with key words on your issue or an area in vista you want info on.

Searching vista will show you hits on a lot of websites for Vista with many
instructional links like the www.pro-networks.org site or Windows Now
http://www.windows-now.com/blogs/ and follow Blogs like Ed Bott's for many
helpful tips:

From Ed Bott:

http://www.edbott.com/weblog/

http://blogs.zdnet.com/Bott/?

http://www.edbott.com/mediacenter/

Also the Vista books will flood bookstores around the end of the year or the
first three months of next year, so pick one or two you like and use them to
explore.

Help and Support in Vista comes from a server and it has the potential to be
better than XP's significantly and XP's was good and largely unused by the
majority of users. Make a habit of checking it out because it has a number
of useful articles that cover how tos and demonstrate features.

CH

 

[Will]

Thanks for all the links and advice Chad

Like I said though Vista is running very well for me on the 32bit system I
have now
so much so that it has exceeded my expectations if I take into account that
updated drivers in the near future (after the RTM release) will be much
improved so things will only get better.
As things are at this moment though I would be quite happy if this was
running as a production machine.
If I go back and remember what windows 95 was like when it went into
production then Vista is certainly already miles ahead, Win95 was so bad
that I actually uninstalled it and waited for win98 to come out and in the
mean time I stuck with win3.11

I was only asking about the testing and such because like I said I will most
probably be buy the 64bit version and be building a new 64bit system.
And I will also be buying the 32bit version for this pc because it's still a
good system with plenty of life left in it.

But thanks very much for your response.

 

[Lang Murphy]

LOL... and how is this different from XP? Is Patch Tuesday going to become
Patch Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, etc...? ;-D

Lang

 

[David Wilkinson]

Will--

You will not be letting yourself in "for a whole bunch of issues" in the
sense that you mean it. You need not worry about that. The 3rd party
companies have been too slow; they always will be, but when RTM is available
those problems will subside rapidly.

There are parts of Vista that could have been better, plenty that never
didn't get included that was written about and talked about, but you will
be able to run it well and you are wise to run it on a 64 bit system because
the future is going to bring a lot of ancillary software keyed towards 64
bit systems.

[snip]

Chad:

I think you are saying (or implying) that the only problem with Vista
x64 relative to x86 is lack of drivers. This is not so. I have found
several bugs in Vista x64 that were not present in x86, and that had
nothing to do with drivers. Two of them related to the duplication of
Program Files and the registry for 32 and 64 bit programs (one was fixed
in build 5728, the other not).

I find this very disturbing as x64 must have had a small fraction of the
scrutiny of x86.

David Wilkinson

 

[Chad Harris]

David--

No I am not saying that. LOL If I had wanted to say that I would have said
it. I read the groups, forums, and excellent sites like Andre De Costa's 64
bit

Extended 64
http://extended64.com/Default.aspx

Teching it Easy
http://adacosta.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!E8E5CC039D51E3DB!8709.entry

Technet Webcast Moving to 64 Bit Computing with Windows Vista
http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/W...&EventCategory=4&culture=en-US&CountryCode=US

I have identified any number of problems with Vista but sensing the tone of
the OP, I wanted to encourage him a little and help him with some resources
that would be suitable for him.

But if I gave that impression, then I'm very glad you pointed it out. I
did not mean to. I think 64 bit Vista got quite a bit of scrutiny and work
and consideration but I'm not qualified to assess that nearly as well as so
many people who have been working on it who are regular posters here.

I would encourage you to search the MSDN, Technet and Radio 9 blogs and
videos to get a sense of how they are dealing with 64 bit Vista--also the
MSFT 64 bit newsgroup.

It would be great had MSFT made more info available to the public in this
vein, including any Live Meetings on it.

Best,

CH

Will--

You will not be letting yourself in "for a whole bunch of issues" in the
sense that you mean it. You need not worry about that. The 3rd party
companies have been too slow; they always will be, but when RTM is
available those problems will subside rapidly.

There are parts of Vista that could have been better, plenty that never
didn't get included that was written about and talked about, but you
will be able to run it well and you are wise to run it on a 64 bit system
because the future is going to bring a lot of ancillary software keyed
towards 64 bit systems.

[snip]

Chad:

I think you are saying (or implying) that the only problem with Vista x64
relative to x86 is lack of drivers. This is not so. I have found several
bugs in Vista x64 that were not present in x86, and that had nothing to do
with drivers. Two of them related to the duplication of Program Files and
the registry for 32 and 64 bit programs (one was fixed in build 5728, the
other not).

I find this very disturbing as x64 must have had a small fraction of the
scrutiny of x86.

David Wilkinson

 

[Chad Harris]

I think the final word is that MSFT has decided there will be an eighth day
of the week beginning at the Launch Jan. 30, 2007 that will be called Mo
Hotfixes Day Luv It or Else, and Stevie Sinofsky Second Sunday is in the
running as well.

Other names for it are Ozzie Web 2 Day and Sinofsky Exhorbitant Licence fees
for Families Day (unless the Windows Now lobbyists had any luck lobbying the
"we can't get enough toys fast enough crowd" at Redmond at the Vista tour at
Redmond extended to every person on the planet.

http://www.windows-now.com/blogs/dena/archive/2006/10/08/Microsoft-Vacation.aspx

CH

 

[Lang Murphy]

Heh, heh, heh... hee... funny.

Lang

I think the final word is that MSFT has decided there will be an eighth day
of the week beginning at the Launch Jan. 30, 2007 that will be called Mo
Hotfixes Day Luv It or Else, and Stevie Sinofsky Second Sunday is in the
running as well.

Other names for it are Ozzie Web 2 Day and Sinofsky Exhorbitant Licence
fees for Families Day (unless the Windows Now lobbyists had any luck
lobbying the "we can't get enough toys fast enough crowd" at Redmond at
the Vista tour at Redmond extended to every person on the planet.

http://www.windows-now.com/blogs/dena/archive/2006/10/08/Microsoft-Vacation.aspx

CH