Windows Vista Release Candidate 1 will be made available to in excess of 5 million customers globally, informed Microsoft via a press release. Concomitantly, the Redmond Company has confirmed that the operating system will be made available for broad customer and partner testing this week. Additionally, Microsoft has announced that it will also post estimate retail pricing details for the United States but has failed to do so at the time of this article. The announcement comes in the wake of Vista RC1 launching to a select group of technical customers on September 1.

In the press release, Microsoft reinstates Windows Vista's release dates, confirming that the operating system will ship to volume license customers in November 2006 while the software giant will push for general availability in January 2007.

In this context, the Redmond Company will reopen the Customer Preview Program to additional customers besides those already involved in the present CPP. With this initiative, Microsoft plans to release Windows Vista RC1 to in excess of 5 million customers worldwide.

"Now that we're expanding the Windows Vista Customer Preview Program, an even broader audience will get to experience just how much Windows Vista has to offer," said Mike Sievert, corporate vice president for Windows Client Marketing at Microsoft. "The expansion of the CPP program really sends a strong message to the industry and our customers: the time to prepare for Windows Vista has arrived."

While confirming that CPP participants are on schedule to receive the RC1 code in the coming days, Microsoft revealed that it will post Vista RC1 on its MSDN and TechNet Websites, making it available for subscriber downloads while broadening the access to additional participants not included in the previous Windows Vista Customer Preview Program. Moreover, the Redmond Company has disclosed existing negotiations with technology publishers around the world for the distribution of Vista RC1 DVDs.

The Redmond Company is also encouraging partners to certify their applications on the RC1 platform and to implement the tools made available to them for the displaying of the "Certified for Windows Vista" Software Quality Logo.

"Logitech is testing Windows Vista RC1 now and has found that the robustness, speed and stability of the build can help us achieve our goal of delivering products that enhance the experience of using Windows Vista," said Dale Pistilli, product director responsible for Windows Vista at Logitech. "We have designed a portfolio of keyboards, mice, game controllers, headsets and webcams that make it easy to access special Windows Vista features. These products are also designed to complement the visual appeal of Microsoft's next-generation PC environment."