Although the Redmond Company has released Windows Vista to manufacturing at the beginning of November, and although Windows Vista was made available to Software Assurance customers via volume licensing, Microsoft has debuted support for the beta versions of the operating system.

Microsoft will deliver support to users running Windows Vista Beta 2, Vista Release Candidate 1 or Release Candidate 2. But there is a catch to it. Microsoft's support for the beta builds of the operating system is not global but limited to the United States and to Canada.

"We're pleased to announce the addition of best-effort phone support (in English only) to North America CPP participants of the Windows Vista Customer Preview Program (CPP) using English-language versions of early test builds of Windows Vista (Beta 2, RC1 or RC2). This is another step in our process of ramping up preparations for the 30th January general availability of Windows Vista. We'll of course begin offering product phone support to the general public on the first day of Windows Vista's availability," revealed Nick White, Microsoft Product Manager.

Details on accessing this phone support:

- Phone Number: 866-425-0593
- Hours of Availability:
- Monday - Friday: 5AM-9PM Pacific Time
- Saturday - Sunday: 6AM-3PM Pacific Time

Besides being available only to CPP participants in the US and Canada, Microsoft's support for the beta versions of Vista is additionally limited to the consumer environment. Vista users that have deployed the operating system in a network domain environment will not be able to receive support.