Well... yes and no

Jan 14, 2008 17:48 GMT  ·  By

Last week, on January 9th, 2008, Microsoft dropped Windows Vista Service Pack 1 Release Candidate Refresh Build 17128 into the laps of some 15,000 testers. Then, on January 11th, 2008, the Redmond company opened up the beta testing program, despite the fact that it indicated no possibility of such a move with the initial release. Microsoft explained that the move was catalyzed by the necessity to get additional feedback from testing. But of course that at this point after two publicly available RC builds of Vista SP1, the question is should end users keep installing and uninstalling development milestone versions of the service pack, or wait for the real thing?

"If you're evaluating Vista for corporate or enterprise deployments, a computer enthusiast who likes taking on the latest software and technology, or are comfortable with release candidate software, then yes, by all means. (Note that this is not for production environments - and always make a back up.) Assuming that you are a regular MSDN reader, than this RC's for you to evaluate and put through it's paces. We've been using the release candidates with great success at home and at work, and found it to be solid", revealed a member of the Customer Satisfaction in the Business Groups.

Is there a downside to deploying Vista SP1 RC Refresh? Well, the fact of the matter is that the answer is yes. All software in beta stage while introduced in a production environment can cause potential damage. This is an inherent caveat of the beta software, and even if Microsoft is offering a near final release of Vista SP1, the RC label does not mean that it is not still a beta build.

"But... If you are a consumer who would rather that Windows Update handle all the heavy lifting for applying the latest updates and patches, then you should carefully consider installing a release candidate package. Windows Vista SP1 RC Refresh is pre-release software and as noted on the download page 'will change before the final release'," added the member of the Customer Satisfaction in the Business Groups.