Vista is not quite done yet

MICROSOFT'S PARTNERS are telling the mighty Vole that its latest release candidate is "close but no cigar".

Just days after RC1 was released for Vole's partners to play with, they have told the software giant that they think it needs a bit more work.

According to CRN, the partners have told Vole that the code is solid but they are not convinced it will be ready for release by the end of the year. One partner Ken Winell, principal of ExpertCollab said that on a Dual Core Centrino machine, Vista RC1 seems to have improved performancewise, however, it still seems slower than WinXP.

Mike Cherry, lead Windows analyst at Directions said the beast is still at best a Beta Three and not a Release Candidate One.

Microsoft needs a second release candidate at a minimum and finish up or release to manufacturing sometime in December, he said.

Other partners are concerned that there are ongoing interoperability problems affecting Vista's interaction with existing hardware and software and potential price issues.

There are also mutterings that Vole's top end price of $400 is just a tad too high.

More here. µ