Windows 7 - No more betas, kids, it's release candidate time up next :)

[Joe Average]

http://blogs.msdn.com/e7/archive/2009/01/30/our-next-engineering-milestone.aspx

While that particular link is getting SLAMMED right now, here's some of the info (stolen with no shame whatsoever from Neowin.net):

Stephen Sinofsky, Vice President, Windows and Windows Live Engineering Group at Microsoft, has written a blog post to everyone testing the Windows 7 Beta giving out details about skipping the Windows 7 Beta 2, and going directly to the Release Candidate (RC) build, also known as a Beta refresh. The Release Candidate will be the last testing phase of the Windows 7 fully featured operating system before the final version of Release to Manufacturing (RTM) build, which ships to companies and consumers all around the globe.

The engineering team said in their blog post that "At the peak we were receiving one "Send Feedback" note every 15 seconds!" giving an impression just how much feedback Microsoft is receiving during the Beta phase. The blog also suggests that Microsoft is watching and reading peoples blogs and forums about the impression of Windows 7, and accommodating accordingly to peoples impressions of the Beta.

We can expect to see bug fixes and some improvements overall in the Release Candidate, as the team has been fixing issues with smaller things such as keyboards, cameras and other devices providing it doesn't affect performance, behaviour, compatibility, or reliability.

No dates were given on the Release Candidate (RC) or the Release to Manufacturing (RTM), but we can expect the Windows 7 Beta will be very similar to the final version we can expect in stores later this year.

And just for the fuck of it, I made a prediction weeks ago about this and, yes, I was right:

http://www.hardforum.com/showpost.php?p=1033436854&postcount=26

/me takes a bow...

 

[LstBrunnenG]

Awesome, hopefully I can snag an OEM copy of RTM this summer.

 

[Mithent]

I guess the downside of this short beta cycle is that they don't have much opportunity to take on board suggestions made during the beta; they may be getting a lot of feedback, but unless the changes warranted are essential or very minor they're unlikely to have time to act on it.

 

[heatlesssun]

While beta has proven to be pretty stable for me, there are enough issues were I wouldn't mind seeing another beta, say by March. But I guess if its feature complete that having two RC's would be okay was well.

But like this post said, a Windows release is a big partnership and I just want to make sure that drivers are ready and in place. Just take you time guys. Get this polished and make this the best desktop OS bar none.

That's what you have to do to put Vista behind you.

 

[eeyrjmr]

I guess the downside of this short beta cycle is that they don't have much opportunity to take on board suggestions made during the beta; they may be getting a lot of feedback, but unless the changes warranted are essential or very minor they're unlikely to have time to act on it.

short beta cycle Win7-beta (aka Vista) has been out for a couple of years
/me runs

 

[heatlesssun]

I guess the downside of this short beta cycle is that they don't have much opportunity to take on board suggestions made during the beta; they may be getting a lot of feedback, but unless the changes warranted are essential or very minor they're unlikely to have time to act on it.

Since its feature complete I really don't see much changing. Maybe some defaults but that's probably going to be the extent of it.

 

[Joe Average]

Another update, sorta:

http://translate.google.com/transla...av-windows-7.aspx&sl=sv&tl=en&history_state0=

If anyone can translate the original page better, feel free to do so. The "hint" is that they're shooting for a Q3 release, 2009 obviously. I still stick with my prediction that it'll be RTM before summer, but just because the OS itself is ready to go doesn't mean "The Redmond Marketing Machine" will be ready to push it out by then.

Same thing happened with Windows 95 - it was done, finished, ready to be released in May of 1995, seriously... but they had announced August as the release month and they stuck to it, delaying the release of the real code for months just because they'd set wheels in motion with the marketing machine and had to stick to that target date with all the commitments.

Bleh... I hope they just get it done and finished much sooner this time. It's on-track right now to be done and finished before the first day of summer, perhaps even slightly sooner. As long as they don't screw it up, and as long as no major showstoppers happen (hopefully), it should be RTM before June 21st.

We'll see what happens...

 

[Kil4Thril]

Bring it on. I'm happy with what I've used of it.

 

[Gorankar]

short beta cycle Win7-beta (aka Vista) has been out for a couple of years
/me runs

No need to run. The truth doesn't scare us.
Win7 is more than a service pack but less than a fully new OS. More like going from Win95c to Win98, or Unbuntu 7 to 8. This is not a Win98 to Xp, or Xp to Vista OS change.
They fixed many of the things that annoyed people in Vista, (or at least implemented them in a more palatable way), and added a few features and a fresh coat of paint. It's all good.