Vista finally goes final

MICROSOFT TODAY announced at 11am PST (7pm GMT) that the new Windows operating system Vista has gone gold and has been released to manufacturers (RTM).

Now the RTM has been announced the build should be readily available on MSDN according to Microsoft's press release from Monday, which states:

"The availability to MSDN Premium subscribers of Windows Vista and the 2007 Microsoft Office system on release to manufacturing".

However, a conference call with Microsoft today stated that it will appear on MSDN 'within 7 days'.

As reported by the INQ last Thursday the release dates had already been leaked. Tuesday November 30th will see the release of Vista to corporate customers, and standard retail customers purchasing from stores or OEMs should be able to get their copy of the new Microsoft OS from Tuesday January 30th 2007.

The Windows Vista blog has been updated with the news reported serious degradation in near-final betas.

Expect RTM reviews and analysis from the hacks at the INQUIRER very very soon. µ

See also
Vista gets release dates
Vista gaming will be 10 to 15 per cent slower than XP
Microsoft Vista is still a mess
How Microsoft Vista will cope with the real world