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Microsoft has opened up the “release candidate” of Windows Vista for public testing. This page has program details and download guidance.

If you’re the right person to test Vista, then you don’t need me to tell you so. If you have to ask, then you shouldn’t go anywhere near this test. It’s the most stable version of Vista yet and many testers are impressed and happy. But if you put it on a computer that you expect to be stable, or if you upgrade a functioning computer, then you are making a terrible, terrible mistake.

I’ll test it, I hope, but my platform will be a brand new computer with a hard drive that I will reformat during the installation. […] continued

Microsoft is putting the final touches on Windows Vista, the next-generation operating system scheduled for early 2007. Delays are still possible but recent builds of Windows Vista have dramatically improved and there is relentless pressure on Microsoft to get it out the door.

There will be much to say about Vista before it goes on sale. Here’s a simple introduction if you’re anxious to get started.

Let me suggest one guiding principle, based on history and gut instinct.

We undoubtedly will buy Windows Vista with new computers, as soon as it is available. It has important improvements in many areas, from security to usability. […] continued

There will be a lot more to say about Windows Vista in the coming months, but for the moment let me discourage you from testing the recent “public beta” released by Microsoft.

Paul Thurrott is a Microsoft fan and long-time tech columnist. His web site is a good place to get extensive reviews and opinions about Microsoft technology. Here’s his comments about Beta 2 from today’s newsletter:

“Well, Microsoft has made Windows Vista Beta 2 available to the public. I think that’s a mistake, because Beta 2 is buggy, unreliable, and unstable, and I’ve been having crazy performance issues with it on multiple systems.

[…] continued

Microsoft is slowly moving forward with Windows Vista, the official name of the next Windows operating system. The release date is impossible to guess; beta testing is in the very early stages and the feature set is still in flux. We’ll have a better idea in a year of what to expect.

Apparently the company has settled on the different product editions that will hit the market – and the rumors describe an overly complex bunch of choices that seem guaranteed to cause confusion.

Currently Microsoft sells Windows XP Home Edition and Windows XP Professional Edition, plus special versions for specific hardware – x64 processors, tablet PCs, and Windows XP Media Center Edition for living room computers. […] continued

Microsoft Word opens up a new window for each document. Internet Explorer frequently opens new windows – each time you click on an IE icon, for example, or when a web page is set to open new windows instead of using the existing window. When we’re in full swing, we can have ten or twenty windows open.

Does everyone remember Alt-Tab? It’s an invaluable keyboard shortcut. It’s been around forever but I don’t see it mentioned often.

Hold down Alt and then press Tab. If you keep Alt pressed down, you’ll see a bar with icons for each running application, and each click of Tab will move to the next available application. […] continued