[Stan]

Redmond is planning to rely more on Community Technology Previews for Windows input, and has two new Vista test builds planned for the next two calendar quarters.


Customers and partners who've been holding their breath waiting for Beta 2 of Windows Vista before getting serious about testing Microsoft's next-generation operating system can exhale.

There will be no single, catch-all Beta 2 of Vista, according to Jim Allchin, copresident of Microsoft's Platform Products & Services Division in Redmond, Wa. Instead, Microsoft is planning to rely increasingly on Community Technology Preview (CTP) builds to get its feedback from Windows testers.
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Allchin, who was on a cross-country press and analyst tour this week, stumping for Vista and Longhorn Server, was showing off the December CTP build of Vista, released in mid-December, as well as some of the features in what is likely to be the next CTP, timed to hit some time in the first calendar quarter of this year.

In Microsoft parlance, CTPs are interim test releases that represent a product snapshot in time. They are usually less stable than traditional beta releases. When Microsoft first launched the Windows CTP program last year, company officials said they hoped to deliver monthly Vista CTPs. But it now seems Microsoft is moving toward more of a quarterly CTP delivery schedule.

The December CTP, Build 5270, which Microsoft released to testers in mid-December is the "partner" CTP, Allchin said.

A first quarter CTP, which is going to Technology Adoption Program (TAP) testers, is the "enterprise CTP," he said. The TAP build, which many company watchers are expecting to hit in February, will include functionality that will allow the build to install on top of Windows XP, Allchin said. The TAP CTP is widely expected to include the Windows Sidebar pane, but Allchin said that it still is not 100 percent certain that the Sidebar will make it into this build.

Microsoft also is planning a third CTP, the Customer Preview Program (CPP) release, for release in the second calendar quarter, Allchin said. Company watchers are expecting the CPP CTP in April.

The latest and next two Vista CTPs all will be labeled as "Beta 2" releases. But Allchin said there won't be a single, traditional Beta 2 or any kind of usual "Release Candidates" for Vista as the product moves toward its release to manufacturing, which is still on track for the second half of this year. It will be all CTPs from here on out.

Allchin wouldn't go so far as to say Microsoft is nixing Windows beta releases altogether. However, Microsoft is definitely shifting the way it is collects customer input for Windows by putting more emphasis on the feedback it receives from testers working with more frequently released CTP builds.

"Customers do need significant milestones," Allchin said. "But you could classify CTPs as betas, but for a different audience."


Rest gibts hier: http://www.microsoft-watch.com/article2/0,...,1916296,00.asp

frontseitennews kommt wenn nim wieder lebt.

[netwolf]

Zitat

"Customers do need significant milestones," Allchin said. "But you could classify CTPs as betas, but for a different audience."

For a way smaller audience
Ob das mal eine gute Idee ist.
CTPs nur noch vierteljährlich und keine herkömmlichen betas/RCs sondern nur noch CTPs, die sicher weit weniger Leute testen (alleine die Bezeichnung ist schon weitaus abschreckender als beta/release candidate!)

[Graumagier]

Oh mann, also den Sinn dahinter soll mal einer verstehen...

[Marcel]

Nunja, ob das viel weniger leute testen halte ich für relativ. Die CTPs werden geleakt -> die große Masse zieht es sich illegal aus dem Netz -> 60 % beschweren sich in Foren über diese und jene Bugs. Die offizellen Tester brauchen eigendlich nur im Netz zu surfen und die Bugs Abzuschreiben, evtl. selber nochmal Reproduzieren.
Da die veröffentlichung solcher leaks anscheinend auch nicht wirklich unterbunden werden, stellt das ja keine probleme dar.

[ConiKost]

Customer Preview Program (CPP) o.O
Das ist doch die öffentliche Version ...

[Stan]

Zitat (ConiKost: 28.01.2006, 11:28)

Customer Preview Program (CPP) o.O
Das ist doch die öffentliche Version ...

Jop =>Vista für alle im April

[swissboy]

Interessant ist auch folgender Abschnitt des gleichen Microsoft Watch Artikels:

Zitat

Allchin said that—contrary to some published reports—Microsoft will not be shipping the bits for all of its different Vista packages on a single CD. Microsoft would like to be able to do so, but "timing" is holding the company back, Allchin said.

Instead, the company will be making Vista available under a new "Windows Anytime Upgrade" plan, which will allow customers to move more easily between different SKUs of the product when they are ready to upgrade. Allchin did not offer further details on that licensing mechanism.

Microsoft wird die verschiedenen Windows Vista Versionen entgegen früherer Meldungen also nicht auf einer einzigen CD bzw. DVD ausliefern, es wird verschiedenene geben.