Microsoft releases final Vista beta, says adoption will be doubly quick of XP’s

Microsoft has released the last trial version of Vista for developers and beta testers before it releases the finished product. It is available for download to TechNet and Microsoft developer network members. In his letter thanking testers for their help in spotting bugs, Jim Allchin, platform and services co-president at Microsoft, says; All your great feedback has helped us focus on nothing but bug fixes over the past month since RC 1 each and every day. There are thousands of quality improvements since Windows Vista RC1. You’ll probably notice improvements in performance, application compatibility, as well as fit and finish work…We are just around the corner from RTM and shipping this great product to the world. This will be the last build made available prior to RTM, so please keep the feedback coming so we can hit the finish line. Microsoft has pinned high hopes on the new OS and expects business customers to adopt it twice as fast as any previous Windows releases. It says that up to ten times as many business desktops will be deployed at release compared to any previous Windows version including XP. Brad Goldberg, GM, Windows Client Business Group, Microsoft, says; Microsoft has made a concerted effort to give customers the tools and training they need to adopt Vista across their businesses. It has put test versions of the OS into as many people’s hands as possible, with at least five million users having access to Vista RC1. Well, so far Microsoft was able to manage the release of the much-delayed OS. It must come up good for the future of Microsoft’s bread and butter OS biz. If Vista bombs, it will also sink Microsoft’s fortunes. However, having said that, I am still very much optimistic about Vista being a superb OS, unlike anything that we have seen before. News: Channel Register and The Inquirer.