With anticipation growing for the December CTP release of Windows Vista, I look inside the Vista CTP program and examine how it has changed the development process for Microsoft's next client OS! This week, Microsoft will ship its third Community Technical Preview (CTP) build of Windows Vista to beta testers, MSDN subscribers, and TechNet members. I recently spent the day with various members of the Windows Vista team at Microsoft's Redmond campus, where I received various demonstrations of CTP candidate builds and discussed the future of the Windows Vista beta program. In this showcase, I'll put the December CTP release in perspective, and provide some background about how the CTP program is proceeding, and how it, and the product it represents, will evolve as Microsoft moves towards a late 2006 final release.

Paul Thurrott Windows SuperSite