Is Vista close to Release Candidate stage?
ENT News | at | by Mike
Despite calls by some beta testers for Microsoft to release a third beta of Windows Vista, the company appears to be instead readying to push its first golden code candidate out the door.
Windows enthusiast and blog site Neowin.net has reported that Microsoft recently created a Release Candidate "branch" in the code testing process for Vista. That usually means that the company is nearing the date when beta testing ends and the RC stage begins.
An RC is a candidate for "release to manufacturing," or RTM, the final step before the product goes to customers. RTM code is sometimes referred to as "golden" code. Microsoft typically releases a series of RCs beginning when the beta test phase ends.