Microsoft to Skip Vista Beta 2

[Chris]

Redmond is planning to rely more on Community Technology Previews for Windows input, and has two new Vista test builds planned for the next two calendar quarters.

Customers and partners who've been holding their breath waiting for Beta 2 of Windows Vista before getting serious about testing Microsoft's next-generation operating system can exhale.

There will be no single, catch-all Beta 2 of Vista, according to Jim Allchin, copresident of Microsoft's Platform Products & Services Division in Redmond, Wa. Instead, Microsoft is planning to rely increasingly on Community Technology Preview (CTP) builds to get its feedback from Windows testers.

Allchin, who was on a cross-country press and analyst tour this week, stumping for Vista and Longhorn Server, was showing off the December CTP build of Vista, released in mid-December, as well as some of the features in what is likely to be the next CTP, timed to hit some time in the first calendar quarter of this year.

In Microsoft parlance, CTPs are interim test releases that represent a product snapshot in time. They are usually less stable than traditional beta releases. When Microsoft first launched the Windows CTP program last year, company officials said they hoped to deliver monthly Vista CTPs. But it now seems Microsoft is moving toward more of a quarterly CTP delivery schedule.

The December CTP, Build 5270, which Microsoft released to testers in mid-December is the "partner" CTP, Allchin said.

A first quarter CTP, which is going to Technology Adoption Program (TAP) testers, is the "enterprise CTP," he said. The TAP build, which many company watchers are expecting to hit in February, will include functionality that will allow the build to install on top of Windows XP, Allchin said. The TAP CTP is widely expected to include the Windows Sidebar pane, but Allchin said that it still is not 100 percent certain that the Sidebar will make it into this build.

Microsoft also is planning a third CTP, the Customer Preview Program (CPP) release, for release in the second calendar quarter, Allchin said. Company watchers are expecting the CPP CTP in April.

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