I hope they've worked on the performence more, bugs and UI problems aside,  they really have to make vista perform better then XP for this to work out.

Hi GP007-
I'm a Vista beta tester and I can tell you that Vista has been out preforming Windows XP since the early 53xx builds with all the bells and whistles turned on.

http://download.windowsvista.com/preview/rc1/en/download-5728.htm

[8-|]   Now I've just got to get my laptop rebuilt, my apps re-installed, and re-join to the domain at work before my flight Sunday evening...I guess I know what I'll be doing during my son's nap tomorrow.

Maybe I should update my MCE box first, I usually sacrafice it first with these builds...

Oh, and the .iso is at (according to the URL posted above, not sure if it works when not accessing it from that page though) http://download.windowsvista.com/dl/preview/rc1/en/x86/iso/vista_5728.16387.060917-1430_x86fre_client-lrmcfre_en_dvd.iso 

 

Anyone else get the feeling Microsoft are testing their net delivery systems more that actually wanting to release newer test builds?

Here is the link for the x64 edition
http://download.windowsvista.com/dl/preview/rc1/en/x64/iso/vista_5728.16387.060917-1430_x64fre_client-LRMCxFRE_EN_DVD.iso

Hmm, interesting. Using a kosher CPP or my MSDN key, the upgrade from RC1 to 5728 (x86) activates sucessfully using either of my keys, but shows "windows is not genuine" messages.

I love paying money to be labelled a pirate ;)

I'm told the "not genuine" issue is a known bug. I don't think it happens to everyone but if you are upgrading in the way I have, bear in mind it may affect you. It won't bomb out Windows but until (if) there is a patch released for the bug, you won't be getting Aero. My guess is it doesn't affect clean installs.

Rob,

Does the watermark saying it is not genuine continue after a reboot?   Also, if you go to the System Properties (right-click "computer" & choose "Properties" under the Start Menu, or Control Panel -> System and Maintenance -> System) what does it say under the "Windows Activation" section at the bottom of the right side?    This is the portion that will make the difference as to if it is REALLY genuine or not, the watermark in this build seems to be refreshed at boot.

 

My watermark isn't refreshed after reboot: keeps on saying not genuine. In the System control panel it reports that Windows is activated but it displays a "get genuine..." link to Microsoft instead of the fluffy Genuine Windows logo.

In a way, it's nice to see what happens when your key doesn't get accepted - I'm not used to that - but now I want my Aero intrface back lol!

I've filed a bug report on it, as it's obviously a very rare false positive ;) - seriously though, I hope they find out what went wrong in my case - the validation code's obviously still in beta. I can practically hear journalists' typewriters being oiled right now in the vain hope for this bug making it into RTM...

Is there a chance that the CPP page on connect.microsoft.com will issue an additional PID so that you could try it?   I'm in the Tech Beta (not the CPP) and it had let us be issued multiple PIDs.

Or there is the other option...Clean install...(less desireable, but should work as well)

Poof. It now works. Looks like someone switched on the validation server ;)