News

Seattle Times: Vista To ‘RTM' Oct. 25

• By Stuart J. Johnston
• October 17, 2006

In the countdown to Vista's release, there have been no reports of dumpster diving by enterprising reporters, but the largest circulation Seattle paper says it has seen a sign that points to the end of testing on Oct. 25th.

The Seattle Times is reporting today that yesterday a scrolling electronic reader sign in Building 9 on Microsoft's sprawling Redmond campus read, "9 Days Until Vista RTM!!!"

“RTM” is short for “Release to Manufacturing.” In Microsoft lingo, that's the last step before the final golden code is delivered into customers' hands. Microsoft has historically been highly secretive of release dates, especially for Windows, but this time around keeping secrets has been haphazard at best.

The company just released “Release Candidate 2” (RC2) earlier this month. Release candidates, or RCs, are the final beta test copies that Microsoft sends out before finalizing the code for RTM.

The Seattle Times' story also speculates that Microsoft might launch Vista when Chairman Bill Gates gives his keynote speech at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on January 7.

When asked about the sign and the date Tuesday, a non-committal Microsoft statement provided the same guidance as previous questions. “We are on track for business availability in November and general availability in January, and the exact dates are determined based on product quality,” said a statement provided by a company spokesperson.  

The Seattle Times article can be found here.