Windows vista has been released to manufacture at long last!

I'm delighted to be able to post the great news (for Windows fans at least!) that Windows Vista was released to manufacture just a few short hours ago!

Windows Vista logo and backdrop

RTM for Windows Vista & 2007 Office System is a big deal as it means the code is now finalised and ready for use. According to Jim Allchin (the VP responsible for Windows Vista) general availability will be from the 30th January 2007.

Jim posted the announcement to the Windows Vista Team Blog.

I've been running the final code in production for a little while and can confirm it's head and shoulders above the quality of the test releases including RC1 & 2.

Robert's post includes a link to Jim's (very short) "launch video" that was posted on Soapbox signifying the launch. He also shared the link to his blogcast interview with Jim.

Q) Why do we have to wait until 30th January?

A) Read the last paragraph of the release post to learn more. If you're an enterprise customer then you'll be able to use the software sooner, consumers and other business users need to wait until DVDs are pressed and our partners are ready to distribute the media.

I'm sure you'll see many other blog posts announcing the release - as it's only a few hours ago there aren't that many. I like James Senior's post Windows Vista - it's time and bizarrely the OSX Emulation site's announcement too which includes a link to the official Windows Vista RTM Q&A