Vista RC1
 

Windows Vista Release Candidate 1 is ready to download at: http://download.windowsvista.com/pre...n/download.htm

They should rename this the not-so-rc.

They still have a long way to go.

Can I have your PID? ^ :td:

Waiting for the new round of CPP to open up...

Still a LOT better than Beta 2 was, but I'm wondering what the motivation will be to move from XP to Vista? Watching HD disc video on the PC? *yawn* Reminds me a lot of Windows ME... Windows 98 with a ton of crap tacked on and flakier than ever.

This is available to the public now? I thought they kept all the betas and RCs for people and companies with MSDN subscriptions (which I have).

So, is it worth dual-booting to play with yet, or should I wait?

It's been available for consumers since the CPP on Beta 2. It's worth installing so you know what all the press is about, but I don't think it's suitable for day to day use yet. Some features simply don't work yet (like the implementation of activesync), printing is flakey and Bluetooth doesn't work at all. Performance is great, I had RC1 installed from initial boot of the PC to the Vista desktop in under 18 minutes, which is a huge improvement over Beta2, or even XP for that matter.

Aero is pretty useless, just a bunch of flashy windows and transparent effects, hardly worth spending extra money on for new hardware.

I'm kind of interested in the audio functionality. They supposedly have installed digital room correction and speaker equalization as well as some other features that will make the HTPC humm. I'm not sure if it will have great quality sound (and I suppose this isn't really a travel related feature of the OS).