MS Now accepting Nominations for Vista SP1 TAP

Brief Summary
Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) will be a standard service pack that will include security updates, hotfixes, as well as limited other changes focused on improving quality. The Technology Adoption Program (TAP) is looking for customers and partners actively test and provide feedback on Windows Vista SP1 to help us prepare for its release in the second half of CY07. Customers must be willing to provide feedback and deploy pre-release builds into production environments.

About the TAP
By joining the TAP, customers gain access to early builds and NDA information about the Service Pack. A dedicated TAP Program Manager will work with the customer to enable deployments, gather feedback, drive issues, answer questions, and connect them with the product group as necessary. There will be only a limited number of seats available in the Windows Vista SP1 TAP.

Goals

• Validate the stability of Windows Vista SP1 through production deployments. It's important that customers deploy the Service Pack into production environments within 30 days of a milestone release. Issues will surface from the deployments as well as throughout the program as end users test its limits thought their day-to-day activities.
• Regressions from Windows Vista and Windows XP, security, deployment blockers and other high impact issues are the primary focus for the Service Pack. The Windows TAP team will work with customers to identify and drive these issues.
• Develop a strong on-going relationship with a key set of strategic customers who are interested in staying ahead of the technology curve.
• Provide marketing collateral – case studies, press/analyst, and other references.

• Early access to builds and information about the Service Pack enabling accelerated deployments.
• Opportunity to influence product changes including the opportunity to work directly with product groups influencing their short term and long term goals.
• Product and customer education through weekly LiveMeeting's, onsite events, and regular conference calls.
  24/7 production support for the Service Pack throughout the program.

• Customers must deploy pre-release versions of Service Pack into production environments at each major milestone (Beta, RC, RTM) within 30 days of the milestone release.
• Customers must meet or exceed predetermined deployment count goals for each milestone.
• Customers must actively provide feedback on all builds made available to them through emails, surveys, conference calls, and filing bugs and DCRs.
• Customers must send 1-2 individuals to Redmond for onsite training events.

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