Tag Archives: release candidate

Windows 7 Release Candidate now set for May according to Microsoft

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There is news spreading on the internet that a div at Microsoft has published (supposedly by mistake) on the Microsoft site that the Windows 7 release candidate was due in May 2009, which has blown some people’s ideas that the RC would be available in April.

Are we to suspect that Microsoft is falling behind schedule? It’s not like Microsoft has fallen behind before – remember what happened for Windows Vista. Remember how late that was?

We’ll have to see what happens to the release candidate. It begs the question will the final release be delayed. Microsoft has been constantly reminding us that they want Windows 7 out by January ’10 at the very latest, but we all know what they are like.

Oh and by the way, I would like to apologise for the slight lack of posts lately – I’ve been doing websites for a few people and GEEK! fell a little behind. Don’t worry, the websites are now finished and I can concentrate on GEEK! again 🙂

I’ve got a really nice budget ADSL2+ router coming in for review in the next couple of days, so stay tuned.

Microsoft pulls in more features to Windows 7

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Microsoft has today mentioned on their MSDN blog a long list of new features (27 to be precise) that will be added into the Release Candidate of Windows 7 when it arrives.

To see what they’ve come up with, click here.

From a quick skim through, I can see they have made a few improvements to the Control Panel –  I like the ‘recently used’ idea as I regularly use the display options when I use different monitors. Also, they’ve added multi-touch zoom support for Windows Explorer which will be great if you have a touchscreen monitor. And apparently, according to the blog, turning off the logoff and shutdown sounds can speed up shutdowns by up to 400ms. In Microsoft’s words, “Every little bit counts”.

In addition, the ‘Safely Remove Hardware’ feature that has been in many older versions of Windows has now been renamed to simply ‘Eject’ and Microsoft have also said they have added support for some firewire cameras which wouldn’t work in Windows 7 Beta.

They have also managed to shrink the page file in Windows 7 RC which means you’ll have a little bit of extra hard drive space to play with. And of course, Microsoft finished by saying they have enhanced the driver support in Windows 7 a little further.

All things to look forward to. You’ll be updated here on GEEK! as soon as any more news arrises.

Vista SP2 and Server 2008 Release Candidate goes live!

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Microsoft yesterday lauched the Service Pack 2 Release Candidate for Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista.

32 bit users click here for download, and 64 bit users click here. If you would like an ISO image, click here. 

I’ve downloaded it and tested it, and so far I cannot see many huge differences, both visually and internally. I haven’t found any bugs, other than the fact that I had to reinstall Windows Live Messenger before it would work properly. 

Also, bare in mind that you will have to uninstall the Windows Vista Service Pack 2 Beta if you have it already installed, which is very time consuming. It’s unlikely the whole process is going to take you less than 2 hours, even on a fast computer.

So, if you want my verdict, don’t bother with it right now. There’s not much new to see, and personally I think it would be easier and less frustrating to just wait for the final release which is due in a couple of weeks time. 

By all means download it if you’re desperate to, but if you have Vista SP1 it is relatively pointless.

Microsoft says Vista SP2 RC is coming in the next week

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According to Techtree, Microsoft has said that the release candidate of Service Pack 2 for Windows Vista will be available sometime next week. No official date was disclosed.

Also on the above site, it was mentioned that the file sizes will be 302MB for the 32-bit standalone installer and will come with 5 languages. However, the 64-bit version will be a more alarming 508MB so anyone with low bandwidth available on their broadband packages ought to really decide if it will be better to just wait for the final release, which is still due in the second-quarter of 2009.

As usual, as soon as the RC is released there will be news here on GEEK!, and it will be reviewed here shortly after, so stay tuned.

Windows Vista Service Pack 2 Release Candidate now available to Technet and MSDN

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Today Microsoft announced the release of the Release Candidate for Windows Vista Service Pack 2 to MSDN and Technet customers. They have also said that a public release of the RC will available in the “very near future”. Today also brought a RC of Windows Server 2008 to Technet and MSDN.

According the Windows Team Blog, Microsoft are planning to launch Service Pack 2 in the second quarter of 2009, which is good news.

So I guess we will just have to wait and see over the next few days for a public release of the RC for both Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008.

Ofcourse, you will be informed on GEEK! as soon as it’s released publicly.