I down Vista month ago, and now,will be right?
The RC1 was installed in maintenance, I don't have DVD-R,the version is the Ultimate, this notebook Capable have little memory, enought?
Give me a hand, please, never will say anything how don't like..I'm a beta client since start this year...ok!

It's a 5600 not 5744.
I don't known why.
I've downloaded 5600 & 5728 before

Yes,5600 is here, the Ultimate, runs well.
After,days ago, 5728.
We have the RC2 how is the 5744.
5600 - 5728 and 5744, right?
I download the Rc2 in my PC, desktop, that's have the initial movie, instructions to install. Revision: notebook - 5600
PC.......- 5744(only download, not installed)

A Gripe
If you have your taskbar mounted on the left or right, your notification area icons mesh in with the "reflection" of the taskbar.

If you try and right click that reflected area, but still on your icon, it uses the context of the notification area, not the icon you click. I really hope they fix this, seems small but it doesn't happen in any other Windows OS I know of.

Mister friend, we have a big problem, three to be exactly, and more two, I have two machines, one lap Acer Aspire 3004 WLCi Capable with the 5600, and a Pc with 5744, only download, not installed.
Ear,I don't speak or write english very well!
I'm a cow in surf(bad websurf, don't known, only superficially, not total... you are seeing how I shutt!
And the third cause, I stop with the study,no more english, compiuter..

Not bad. Migrated everything I have without flaw, booted into Aero even though I have IGP (Intel) and performance is same as Vista.

Fonts in Firefox, gtalk, etc are "blurry" though, whereas everything Microsoft is crisp and clear. Using 120 dpi.

But it really does nothing for me that XP and FREE third party apps can do. So no rush to move to it.

The control panel and other associated features seem even more complex, scaring away users, and confusing power users. Sure that will just take time, though...

It's an f-ing mess and no one in their right mind should pay for this OS until at least service pack one. Of course, if you still want to insist that it's only a beta and that the release will be great, it's your money!

You've been warned.

Any computer built in the last 12 months will run Vista RTM perfectly well. Solid drivers for his hardware will come out within a month or two of Vista's RTM, as well as new vers of all of his "delicate" software (anti-vir, firewall, any low level stuff). I would not stick to WinXP in 1/2007 if I have a dual-core 3Ghz+ 1GB+ machine... And if a specific piece of my config doesn't work with Vista - hasta la vista to it. Buy a new printer or something... It's silly to have a printer keep you from using Vista for the next year or two, for example... Sell it on eBay.. move on... PC's are SO much cheaper than they were 10-15 years ago... We happily spent 2 or 3 times more on "the computing experience" back then, AND we had less money (hopefully we slightly advanced in life since)...

If no one buys it, there won't be a SP1. So stop insulting the early-adopters because they enable you to have a slightly better OS. =p

Where did he say he had hardware problems? Software problems have NOTHING to do with hardware. Bugs are the problem, it's as simple as that. Microsoft is always one more version of the OS from getting the bugs out. The closest they've come so far is Windows XP and I'll bet a lot of people stick with it for a while.

I wonder why you wouldn't stick with XP with a newer machine. I have a newer machine (core 2 duo, 2gb ram) and it screams under XP. Vista does nothing for it but add eye-candy that I can get from Stardock. I,for one, am tired of buying superfast machines only to lose that hardware edge to software. Why bother?

What I keep waiting to hear are all the compelling reasons to buy Vista. Every time I try out a new beta version, I am disappointed and find myself missing XP. Until I see a value for my 1-4 hundred dollars, I'm going to avoid that problems and stick with a rock-solid OS - Windows XP.

I'd bet the hardware companies love you, though. Buy buggy software, buy new hardware to make it work. LMAO! That's great!

simple and intelligent comment :)

What is wrong with it? How long have you been running it?

I must agree. When the OS finally is sold and installed, stand by to wait forever while windows updates with multiple patches. Even though it is brand new and you just installed it.

I'm sticking with XP and happy to do it. I refuse to buy new hardware just to run the latest crapware. I'll let someone else be the butt of Microsoft's profiteering for once.

Vista is expected to go RTM on October 25th.

According to Paul Thurrott it's going to be "sometime between October 25 and November 8".

Yup, I remember reading that from Paul well. I trust his information.

This build has n o issues by itself however third party software computability is annoying. New games demo's don't work because they are looking for direct x 9. How annoying is that. Also driver support is lacking still. I tried downloading the latest driver from nvidia and every time vlc media player started it caused the video card to corrupt the display and a forced reboot by clicking reset had to be done. This isn't a problem in any other driver version, even the one that came with vista worked better then that.

Safe to say I won't be upgrading to a retail version until all third party vendors of hardware and software have caught up. I can't believe the creative driver for my years old audigy 2 that vista gets from windows update still does not work correctly. I have to manually download it from creative.com in order to get sound. why in the world with a audio card that popular would vista not come with the drivers natively? I mean taht would be like not putting a ati or nvidia driver in it for a x800 video card or whatever. Tell me of a more popular sound card then the creative audigy series? I find it hard to believe that simple issues like these will be resolved in the next few weeks. Supposively this build is one of the last before they release it on the world in just a few weeks.

Like I said I will definitely be waiting at least 6 months after release to even think about upgrading. In the mean time in order to play games or use simple hardware like my canon scanner or new game demos like battlefield 2142 I guess xp will be revisited.

You can install DirectX 9 on Vista. Just download the latest redistributable.

XP is a good, stable OS and sticking with it for a while is a good move. I plan to do the same.

same here!

Did anyone else see the new "efi" folder in the root of the ISO image? Does that mean anything or is it just fluff? If it supports EFI that would be HUGE news.

The vista bootloader was completely re-written specifically to support EFI, no more boot.ini

EFI support is only in 64-bit editions of Vista, and I don't think that's even included at launch.

so do we need a key for this, if so where do you get the key from? oops never mind i found it from my old email

did anybody else have the problem with the downloader???
It downloaded 97% and stopped.
Said the downloader cannot handle more...strange!
It happened on the download link that Paulie suggested.

I am downloading right now.
7%....now 8

What does RTM mean?
Released to manufacturing?

Yep, you seem to have answered your own question.

Release the Migraine?

Release the monster?

The way the beta program is working after June 2007 the beta copies will somehow deactivate themselves. vista checks on a regular basis its activation status. So unlike one shot one kill xp activation, for example make an image after activating and never have to activate again. vista will phone home on a regular basis. So anyone installing it now and activating and makes an image and tries to install it say June 5th 2007. Your out of luck. Also the keys out now won't work with RTM builds.

As for other ways they are going to prevent pirates they are going to handle corporate keys differently. Now I personally don't see corporate companies or government agencies that use closed and classified networks using vista if this is the case. If they do make some kind of exception then there is the way vista will get hacked or beaten. No doubt though microsoft just might make vista so expensive and difficult to hack people might just switch to linux or continue using a old version of windows 2000 that is full of security problems its a danger to the user and the net itself.

Pirating is key to microsoft's success and has kept it on computers. Look at these third world countries and countries in asia. They are way too poor to afford windows. So they pirate it. prevent that from happening you are going to start a new business for Linux that is free anyway with free patches and documentation all over the web for help.

so Microsoft is simply hurting itself by making it impossible or as difficult as possible to pirate. Yeah there pirating numbers will go down. however the windows user base will continue to decline as well or simply users will keep using the version they can pirate with little or no problems.

HEAR! HEAR!

You said it all, man.

Though MS made a good move http://www.betanews.com/...ounted_Vista/1160157828

Not enough, though . . . They should sell it on an income basis -

I don't even think MS needs to phone home to disable your Vista. They can pre-program it to do so right now in RC1/2. Nobody would wanna use a computer with their clock 6 months back simply because many programs won't function (Windows Live Messenger, for example) and other basic network usages where a higher than 5 min out-of-sync starts to cause problems.

Microsoft is doing the right thing by hitting on the pirates. In the long run, even if their monopoly drops from 90% to 40%, they can still be MORE profitable since those 40% will all be hardcore MS users who subscribe to almost EVERYTHING MS (it'll be "good enough" for them overall, or more accurately "best bang for back"). MS has enough cash to compete head-on with all biggest players - Google, Yahoo, Apple, and give the end-user a total package (entertainment, computing experience, gaming, whatever) at a very competitive rate - all extremely well integrated.

And I say this as the biggest pirate of MS software, who will continue to pirate until the day I'm forced to stop and make a critical decision: where do I spend my cash now - MS..or Mac...or..?... I won't go with "free" alternatives since I feel the easily pirated Windows XP and Office 2003 will be better than those for at least 5 more years... And I'd rather spend $500 extra yearly on software than spend dozens of hours suffering through incompatibilities, insane learning curve and other major faults for the foreseeable future.

"And I'd rather spend $500 extra yearly on software than spend dozens of hours suffering through incompatibilities, insane learning curve and other major faults for the foreseeable future."

what a silly attitude. If you are willing to spend the time to find OS cracks and workarounds, then certainly you could be willing to learn a free OS. Likewise, if you are willing to pay to avoid all that, then why don't you?

ummm ummm... what about us 64-bit guys... I hate when they don't release the two architectures at the same time...

nevermind.. I see it now...

You "64-bit guys" still haven't gotten the memo, eh. Microsoft don't give a damn about you and the rest of us are starting to find the 64-bit whine kind of amusing.

lol...

umm... you do know 32-bit processors are on their way out, don't you?

I would be willing to bet that over 90% of processors being sold this time next year will be 64-bit.

Yeah, we've been hearing THAT story for a long time. I'll believe when I see it.

Just because the processor is 64-bit doesn't mean you can take advantage of it. I've had a 64 bit processor for two years now; it's the software that's the hold up.

Agreed.

Except I would be a little more specific to say that drivers are what are really holding it up. But that's changing fast.

This time next year, knowledgeable computer users will laugh at the idea of buying a 32-bit processor.

You can quote me on that.

This is a download link for Windows Vista RC2 (The Customer Preview Program official link)

http://download.windowsv...iew/rc2/en/download.htm

First person to post a torrent link (to nothing illegal of course) gets milk together with their cookie.

A question to the gurus: since MS is gonna break the pirates' balls with Vista (for a little while), do you think I can do something like this:
download RC2 and quickly install it on several machines just to activate it on them to get their Hardware Profile fingerprinted on the Activation Server (assuming RC2 requires activation?)
Or, if RC2 does not require activation, would I be able to install RC2 freely on fresh PC's in Jan 2007 to save a few bucks and still remain "legal"? ;)
Yeah I know it's buggy... And will expire in a year or something... still... it could be "good enough"!

Your key will expire, regardless of what hardware it's installed on, next June.

I guess if you don't mind setting your clock back a couple years, it shouldn't matter...

If you install and activate RC2 now, it will cease to function at the expiration date. I've never tried to activate a pre-release version so long after downloading, so I can't speak to when activations for RC2 will be discontinued. Previously, the license for these pre-releases expires at the release of the product, so technically you are no longer authorized to use the pre-release versions.
Previously, moving your clock around will cause the pre-release to cease functioning immediately.
Since one of the improvements of Vista is the ability to manage and disable installation keys, it wouldn't surprise me if Microsoft decides to try this feature and turn off pre-release keys at some point.

vista rc2 does have activation. It will expire after 14 days of running without activation. Once activated vista on a regular basis will phone home to check if the key is still good or valid.

The build isn't available based on copies downloaded or the amount of copies pulled off the server. It is based on the amount activated. So when 100k keys or whatever have been activated no others will be able to be activated. So even if you got a copy of RC2 that your buddy downloaded and you try to use your own key, it won't work after the RC2 availability is closed.

So its best to download a copy and activate it asap to get it. Only activated copies will remain valid till June 2007 after that point you need to buy a copy that is boxed in the store for 99 dollars for basic upgrade or 399 for full version ultimate with all the versions and prices in between.

I read that what happends when the build expires is the following: Features are disabled such as aero. Nothing is accessable except for the web browser for 15 mins at a time, most likely to buy a valid key or to activate.

Thanks for the info, everyone! It seems I'm a bit too late with my plan - I never got an RC1 key and from what I hear MS is not giving any more new keys. I also have a feeling that trying to re-activate RC2 in Jan 2007 (say after a HD crash) - I won't be allowed to do it. Oh well I guess we'll move to plan B - securing Vista from itself (blocking any communication with Microsoft and downloading patches from third party only). To avoid zero-days I guess I'll have to beef-up security with multiple rings (firewall, intrusion detection, signed/whitelisted executables, doubling-up on AVs/other antimalware etc)
hehehe
Or..I may just find a semi-legal way to buy a dirt-cheap Vista Ultimate license ($100 max). Maybe educational or some foreign deal...

Vista RC2 now openly available! Just incase they decide to close it again hurry up and get your hands on it...

I'd also like the credit for being first to mention and post this!

http://download.windowsv...iew/rc2/en/download.htm

/me hands PaulieFresh a cookie

Congrats ;) :p

Thanks for the link.

As of this moment, only the 32-bit version is available, but I'm sure the 64-bit version will appear soon enough.

P.S. I hate to burst your bubble, but The MAZZTer originally posted that link below. Nice try though :-)

At the time of posting the link didn't work yet, so PaulieFresh gets the cred for letting us know it's up.

True. True...

64-bit version now up.

I officially declare Vista has entered the beta phase. :)

Ageed! And Service Pack 1 will be RC1.

OK here is the official report:
http://blogs.technet.com...beta-testers_2100_.aspx

RC2 will become publically available SOON. IE not at this moment.

Neowin.net is reporting that the Connect testers (like me) have access now to a build #5744, it is NOt being reported as RC2. Is this build reported here on this site NEWER than that one? 5744 is being shown as Windows Vista RC1 (5744-16384). Screenies on the net show RC2 in them, mrmm...

Build 5744 is RC2. Someone probably made a typo on the download description.

RC1 was 56xx or whatever.

another monster download...well worth the time :)

If you have or know the download link could you post it please?

He probably got it through an MSDN subscription. This is the supposed public link: http://download.windowsv...iew/rc2/en/download.htm

It doesn't seem to work yet as of this post.

The article says "RC2 will be available to a limited number of CPP participants, beta testers, as well as TechNet and MSDN subscribers." So I kind of doubt it'll be public.

You forgot: "As with the interim build before it". That refers to 5728, which I have downloaded and burned without any subscription from a public website. I was gonna install it tomorrow, I'll wait to use RC2 instead.

Where's the download link!?!?!? I'm guess it's going to be like the last time around and only offer it to 100,000 people... I'd like to get it since I was planning on installing that other build between the RC's today... but I can wait for it... ONLY FOR A FEW HOURS THOUGH!

Besides, it only takes me like less than an hour to download'em and 10 minutes to burn an ISO disk... so please hurry for me!

It's not a public build.

"As with the interim build before it, RC2 will be available to a limited number of CPP participants, beta testers, as well as TechNet and MSDN subscribers."

I downloaded the "build before it" without having a subscription.

Very true, the build 5728 was available for a limited number of CPP beta testers, 100,000 to be exact, and I happened to hop in on it before everyone got to it

Thanks for supporting my point. Making the thing available only via CPP, TechNet, and MSDN doesn't qualify as a public release.

how about "limited" public release?

I wouldn't call any of those released-to sites public, MSDN in particular.

Closed release is the proper term.