Some time this month, if Microsoft sticks to schedule, the company will deliver its latest test build of Windows Vista to hundreds of thousands of testers. Seems like a perfect time to contemplate how well Microsoft"s Vista beta/Community Technology Preview (CTP) program is going.
First, for the record, let"s give Microsoft kudos where they"re due. Microsoft started laying the groundwork for the Vista CTP program more than a year before delivering the first Vista beta drop in July 2005. Microsoft"s Core Operating Systems Division (COSD), which focuses on improving the processes behind Windows development, has been toiling to make Windows more modular. As a result of their work, it"s proven easier for Microsoft to add (and cut) features and do so in a more controlled way throughout the Vista beta process. And because of that architectural involvement, the Windows team launched a CTP program much like the ones the company"s developer division has been pioneering for more than a year. But it hasn"t been all roses in Windows-testing land...