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Is Windows Vista almost ready? RC1 is out!
Today marked a pretty significant release for Microsoft: Windows Vista Release Candidate 1 was made available to beta testers today. To clarify, Release Candidate means candidate for release, as in, "We think this version is so good it could be the final version, but before we ship it we want to do one final bug check." And I'm tempted to accuse Microsoft of forgetting that fact (oops, I think I just did). To be more specific, Windows Vista isn't set to ship until January (albeit somewhat earlier to OEMs), but here Microsoft has a Release Candidate already. Is it possible that Microsoft is that far ahead of schedule? Well... no. It's my opinion that Microsoft is just abusing the RC1 appellation, much like some companies increment version numbers at the drop of a hat, to make users, and more importantly investors and journalists, feel like a) Vista is actually making some progress, and b) if it's already up to RC1 in September, when it's finally released in January it's bound to be amazingly polished, stable, and secure. Now, for all I know, Vista really is "almost ready" and maybe when it does ship it will be amazing polished, stable, and secure. But forgive me for harboring a few doubts. Even the announcement at the Windows Vista Team Blog seems to defy the Release Candidate label: "We're not done yet, however - quality will continue to improve. We'll keep plugging away on application compatibility, as well as fit and finish, until RTM [release to manufacturing]." Application compatibility is a good thing, but isn't that the sort of thing that should be taken care of before you start talking about releases?Oh, well. Currently Windows Vista RC1 is only available to a closed group of testers, but it will be "made available to those of you outside those programs" soon.
Comments
11
Subscribe to commentslakiolenSep 2nd 2006 5:28PM
I was checking out pre-RC1 earlier this week and I have already experienced two BSODs and one complete freeze. Definetly not ready for prime time.
Chris KSep 2nd 2006 6:29PM
AIM doesn't work in pre-RC1 yet. Other than that, it's pretty speedy.
cquinnSep 2nd 2006 7:07PM
I'm tempted to accuse you of putting words in Microsoft's mouth.
Release candidate does not mean "one final bug check". It means "now we concentrate the majority of our energies on fixing the last of the bugs so that we can reach RTM status"
Pre-RC1 doesn't count folks, that was a build put our specifically to identify the types of bugs you
are describing and hopefully fix them for the RC1
release. Chech that the same issues you have are still there in the actual RC1.
Jordan RunningSep 2nd 2006 7:11PM
I disagree, cquinn. Like I said, Release Candidate means candidate for release, i.e. we're actually considering releasing this in its current state.
MrDiSanteSep 2nd 2006 10:44PM
That's a ridiculous claim to make. Microsoft and many other large software companies have a long history of making 2 or even three RC's before RTM. RC does not at all imply that it's ready to be released otherwise it wouldn't be a TEST version. Finally, you haven't used RC1 (to be fair, I haven't gotten around to installing it either) and for all you know, it may be just as stable as you claim it should be. I mean really, I realize that this is a blogging service but at least some impartiality would be appreciated.
Handsome JonSep 2nd 2006 11:18PM
MrDiSante = so angry.
This is a weblog, not World News Tonight. Go back and read it with a sense of humor. Oh, and the keyword (as always) is 'opinion'.
cquinnSep 4th 2006 12:21PM
Even a weblog has some responsibilty to get thier facts straight, otherwise it is just a FUD piece.
MrDiSante is correct that there are usually several release candidates for an OS or program, and Jordan Running is absolutely wrong in saying "we're actually considering releasing this in its *current* state". The whole point of a release candidate is to identify and fix the problems in the *current* state so that a later build can be ready for release.
Jordan RunningSep 4th 2006 12:25PM
I never said a release candidate is the same as a final release. I said a release candidate is something they're considering releasing, just like a candidate for a job is someone you're considering hiring and a candidate for president is someone who at least one person thinks is qualified to be the president. All I'm saying is that if it's not actually a candidate for release--and for all I know, it is--they shouldn't call it a release candidate.
And to be fair, this is a blog--if you don't want opinions, read the wire services.
Ron BucktonSep 5th 2006 8:34AM
One thing to keep in mind with regards to the use of the Release Candidate designation is that a RC internally could mean, "hey we think we're close to finished". QA then reviews and tosses it back saying "yeah this is good but not ready yet." Microsoft isn't sitting on RC1 and waiting to see what the public says about quality, they've already continued on development. The internal RC however is stable enough for another preview, hence why they decided to release it as another public preview. Think of RC1 as "a release candidate a couple of weeks ago when we created it for testing internally" and not "a release candidate for the public to test.
Also, being that I often put together software development processes it's also important to note that RCs are milestones in development. Alpha releases are often released before "feature-complete" meaning they don't have all of the features of the product. Beta releases are often released before "code-complete" meaning they don't have all of the necessary performance, tuning, error checking, and still contain a number of bugs. RC's are stable releases that still contain bugs but have passed the "Beta" stage. When most products are in RC there's very tight control over what changes get checked into the mainline as regressions have to be very tightly controlled.
I don't have links handy but over the past few years there have been a number of articles and commentaries on how Microsoft internally handles the a/b/rc/rtm process as well as things like code reviews, triage, zbb, escrow, and the like.
Tim MarmanSep 5th 2006 10:25AM
At least in terms of Microsoft, Release Candidate generally means the product is FEATURE complete, with the focus on fixing bugs and tuning the product. (The bar for what bugs get fixed also goes up, so some more "minor" stuff may get deferred).
I can't think of a single major product they've released (with a full beta testing cycle like this) with just a single RC release. RC2 is usually the first one, and there will often be an RC3.
FabuloSep 5th 2006 4:20PM
Alpha = watch out, not only it is buggy, but it does not have all the major features yet.
Beta = Most or all the major features are implemented, should work reasonably well, but bugs are still present. Non vital features, components, UI may change before final version.
Release Candidate = this is it. All features are in, all screens are go, most everything won't change. It just needs a few coats of debugs/feedback/testing and then release when it is *good enough*.
Microsoft should feel confident that the current RC1 is a good representation of the final release.