Have You Seen Windows Vista RC2?

Returning from lunch, I've got mail from Microsoft's PR firm saying that a second Windows Vista release candidate--a.k.a. Build 5744--has been distributed today "to a select number" of Customer Preview Program participants as well as members of Microsoft's IT professional and developer community groups.

Microsoft says RC2 incorporates "excellent feedback" from RC1 users, and that it will be the last "interim release" before the product is finalized. The company still expects to ship Vista to volume license customers in November and to everyone else in January, according to the spokesperson.

Customer Preview Program participants are members of the public who signed up to get Beta 2 and/or RC1 (Build 5600), released last spring and last month, respectively. However Microsoft didn't make arrangements to distribute RC2 to members of the media so we've not seen it yet.

We'll let you know when we do, but in the meantime, we'd love to hear from readers who have had a chance to install Build 5744. Does RC2 seem any more stable than previous versions? I'm running a pre-RC1 version (Build 5568) and am still having difficulty with the Palm Desktop, Rhapsody, and Photoshop Elements 4.

Comments

Installed two days ago and has been running fine since. I had to uninstall my Roxio and then reinstall it after the upgrade (from Beta2). Other than that, it's been fine. It loads as "Vista Ultimate" but the "Ultimate" part seems to be mostly confined to some website freebies. I haven't had enough time to play with it yet, but it's definitely a whole lot more stable than Beta2.

unkakrakkah

October 06, 2006

3:58 PM PT

i am downloading RC2. you can find the link from windows vista team blog.

ctukct

October 06, 2006

9:13 PM PT

Microsoft has prolong the release of Windows Vista for so long now! I am really worried about what performances are going to be produced and what type of bugs are involved with the new operating system.

duckys26

October 07, 2006

4:54 AM PT

i have tried RC1 5600, 5728. I will say even RC1 is much better than beta 2. i am going to install the RC2 now

ctukct

October 07, 2006

5:00 AM PT

Vista RC2 64bits installed is less than 20 minutes on My AMD 939 3500+ 2 gigs of memory on NVidia Raid ( no more drivers needed ). This is quite better than the first intallation of beta 5342 which took 1:30hr. Only Realtek AC97 sounf drivers will need to be added.

Navigation with IE7 is improved... As a check, I got to NY Times... First attemps where painfull with previous betas, but now, front page show completely and links to articles seem to respond.
( using a proxy through an XP PC might be troublesome )
( I hope to have direct connection with 32 bit version )

Yet, first visit to some of my pages are still difficult.

An easy way to check Windows.... go to any shop in 3 months and try it in the store. They will not sell it if it still has bugs.

Have a nice day everybody

GPB

manrico939

October 07, 2006

12:18 PM PT