Microsoft on Friday issued what it hopes will be the last public test version of Windows Vista, as it works to put the final program in the hands of some businesses by next month.
The company said that Release Candidate 2 of the new operating system is being made available to its usual crop of technical testers and developers, as well as to some of the enthusiast consumers who are testing the earlier, RC1 version.
Microsoft did not change its timing for the software's final release, but did indicate that it could still miss its goals.
"As we stated from the beginnning of Windows Vista development, the quality of the product will always be our first priority," Microsoft said in a statement. "That said, Microsoft continues to target Windows Vista availability for volume licence customers in November 2006 and general availability in January 2007, although the final delivery will be based on quality."
The software maker had hoped to have Vista on store shelves and in new PCs in time for this year's holiday season, but said in March that it would miss that date.
Analysts have been divided on whether Microsoft will make its revised goal. Goldman Sachs analyst Rick Sherlund said on Friday that Microsoft was on track to meet its current timetable, but Gartner has been predicting for some time that Microsoft would be forced to again delay the product.
The software maker is encouraging developers and others to provide feedback on any issues that remain unresolved in the latest test builds.
"Microsoft has continued to receive excellent feedback that is helping to improve the overall quality and performance of the product," it said. "RC2 reflects that feedback and includes important improvements in performance, application compatibility and 'fit and finish' work."
Talkback
"Microsoft has continued to receive excellent feedback that is helping to improve the overall quality and performance of the product," it said.
That's not what I heard - a beta tester told me they included a driver that would deliberately break all Logitech hardware - make no mistake Microsoft are a criminal firm, use their OS at your peril
RC2- After trying RC2 (64-Bit version) for over a month now, it's stable and the majority of programs run with it, however, I can't use my Fatality sound card, HP Scanner, my logitech Bluetooth keyboard & mouse or net-camera! Which I was surpised about as the hardware is all new within the last six months!
So much for a release candidate!
I downloaded RC1 to check it out. It failed to find my Linksys nic card, SB16PCI sound card, and HP Printer.
Lust got RC2 and nothing has changed. Still no sound, no internet and no printing. It is a good thing I switched to PCLINUXOS recently. Doesn't look like windoze is ready for the desktop yet. Which could be a good thing, might slow down the malware and virus writers. I don't
see any reason to downgrade from Linux here.