Builds of Vista. And all I can say (for now) about RC-1

Here is some Vista build information

Build 5456 was the June CTP (community technology preview) build

Build 5472 was the July CTP. Quick arithmetic: they are 16 apart, lets add keep adding 16s

Build 5488 Hmm, can't find this one. Add another 16

Build 5504 was an internal build. Builds from here are suffixed .16384  (interesting number) and the build date, if a minor change is made the build becomes .16385, 16386 etc.  Add 16 again

Build 5520 was the internal build I was running when I blogged last week. Next!

Build 5536 was the one with the Bat-out-of-Hell performance (comparatively speaking) that got people excited last week. I upgraded to it yesterday, and it is available for download. However, if you're patient, you'll wait for RC-1. Roll on 16 more.

Build 5552 - a bit of fuss followed 5536 suggesting that this build was "Out" if this did see the light of day it appears to be by mistake  so add another 16

Build 5568. Here's a story from Paul Thurrott on Monday.

"According to my sources, Microsoft plans to finalize Vista RC1 this afternoon. The build, 5568.16384, will ship internally today and will be seeded to customers next week if all goes well .... " .

That's the 3 parts of the build number. If he's right it will be 5568.16384.060828. He continues:

"So here's the schedule. Microsoft plans to ship RC1 publicly sometime in early September, probably right after Labor Day." 

Being British I don't know anything about Labor day (I just assumed that it was when Americans got together to eat Meatloaf or something) is falls on September 4th.

I'll cast a little doubt on the article, because Paul talks about numbers of bugs (down, he says, from 825 bugs on August 5th to 7 on August 28th) . The number of "active" bugs is pretty sensitive and if someone has disclosed it their life may be a shade uncomfortable. With all the petty little things that go in the database as a bug and given that I know 2 that are still open, I'm sceptical. [Yes folks, that was a Microsoft person saying "No! I'm sure we have MORE  bugs than that"]  This morning I had a mail regarding my one of my bugs (%msft% appearing where the text should have said Microsoft - that's how small a bug can be) and talking about the release of RC-1.  Was it built on Monday ? Yesterday ? Not built Yet ? Was the Main build number 5568, or did we go on to 5584 or even a nice round 5600 ? Was the minor number 16384 or 16385 or 16386 or higher ? Enough questions: dare I leak the news ?

Actually No, I daren't. Should Paul be happy with his prediction then? Lets just say he shouldn't be sad. And "available right after Labor day" ? Probably.

Update. I'm glad I didn't leak that "news" - it was wrong in one important respect, but "right after labor day" still rates a probably.

Tagged as Microsoft Windows Vista