Windows 32bit Family XP RTM - 5.1.2600
XP SP1a - 1106
XP SP2 - 2180
Server 2003 RTM - 5.2.3790
Server 2003 SP1 - 1830
Server 2003 SP2 - 3959
Vista RTM - 6000.16386
Server 2008 Beta 3 - 6001.16510
Windows 64bit Family XP 64bit RTM - 5.2.3790.1830
XP 64bit SP2 - 3959
Server 2003 64bit RTM - 5.2.3790.1830
Server 2003 64bit SP2 - 3959
Vista 64bit RTM - 6000.16386
Server 2008 64bit Beta 3 - 6001.16510
Longhorn Beta 1. It's been a long time coming - a distant mirage in the desert sands of time...
It really has felt like that since longhorn started out in alpha oh so many years ago.
Well the wait is finally over!
One more night of pitching your tent, watering your camel, and you will wake to find that mirage is really an oasis just over the sanddune in front of you.
WinBeta is proud to exclusively reveal that tomorrow (Wednesday) Microsoft are expected to formally announce the availability of Beta 1 to it's testers.
Build 5112 is expected to be announced as the build of choice to hold the Beta 1 badge of honour. Although rumors being what they are the fat lady has not sung yet, there is still the possibility of another build.
This will reveal to the world simultaneously the progress Microsoft has made in it's successor to Windows XP as well as a first look glimpse at Internet Explorer 7.
Speculation is rife that Microsoft has pulled out all the stops to make this beta compatible with as much hardware as possible and has included a plethora of drivers. One suggestion was that 50%+ of the new build will be purely drivers.
Given that minimal drivers exist in the 831MB build of 5048 from WinHec we would estimate the beta build has the possibility of being larger than 2GB in size. Certainly this is a huge increase in size compared to the previous publicly tested build, 5048 from Microsoft's WinHec conference in April.
As in previous betas, artwork is considered a low priority update and as such we may see the Longhorn name on builds for quite some months yet. The only acknowledgement of Windows Vista evident in the build is rumoured to be by way of the desktop build number. It will likely say that it is Windows Vista Beta 1, yet all other areas of the Operating System will refer to 'Longhorn'.
We have also had unconfirmed reports that there will be waves of 15,000 testers who will get access to the new build every day. There are currently 100,000 beta testers that have already been advised by Microsoft of their inclusion in the beta program. Beta testers will get access to the download in waves to allow access without crushing download servers.
All the beta 1 invitations have already been sent out. If you have not received one, then you may be invited in one of the subsequent waves of testers to be added. Don't give up hope of being added just yet...1,000 invites a week will be emailed out during the course of Beta 1.
Beta testers will have access to the build within an hour of the official announcement tomorrow and WinBeta learned that MSDN subscribers can also expect access to the build, albeit in approximately 1 week's time around August 3rd.
It's been a long road to get to Beta 1 over the last 4 years but we have reached this oasis at last - we look forward to the beta program and the next two years of testing and sharing our findings and news with you and you with us...
UPDATE: MSDN subscribers will find they have a Longhorn beta 1 key available to them through the product keys menu. Please be aware, these keys are UNIQUE to you.
Posted by Maleko (3 posts) on Tuesday, Jul 26, 2005, 6:34 pm
(2 replies to this Comment) | - IP: Hidden
i knew about this last week, hardly breaking news, although i doubt it will really be tomorrow that everyone sees it, between all the different places that MS might release it
Posted by gman4dx266 (133 posts) on Tuesday, Jul 26, 2005, 9:23 pm
(3 replies to this Comment) | - IP: Hidden
Finally...its been since april since we've had something to play with...
And as Matt said:
"Tomorrow's going to be a BIG day for lots of eager testers..."
...not only that, but a big day for internet traffic...seeing that the article says file sizes of 2 gig plus...i can see it now...all the bots on #winbeta-ads...trudging through queues deeper than marianas trench...waiting for 3 days to get your turn...Ahhh..and when the download finally finishes, you get that 'new build rush', like when your haulin a$$ down the interstate in your victory red Corvette...
Ok..maybe not..but my point stands...its definitely time for a new build...
Posted by ark (8 posts) on Tuesday, Jul 26, 2005, 11:31 pm
- IP: Hidden
Love it or hate it, Vista is on its way. Maybe, maybe, Microsoft has gotten the hint to listen to its userbase.
Don't expect any miracles tomorrow. Don't imagine smooth operation and security and compatibility. A final version is AT LEAST 18 monhts off. Either help during those 18 months, or as the n00bs say, "GTFO".
Posted by scrimpy (4 posts) on Wednesday, Jul 27, 2005, 1:18 am
- IP: Hidden
I dont think this beta will be floating around the IRC servers people. MS will be watching This very close and Its already a Big topic in the Beta Newsgroups Winbeta Does not want to Break There NDA's -Well lets hope they dont
Posted by tekhound (1 posts) on Wednesday, Jul 27, 2005, 2:16 am
- IP: Hidden
Went to a Technical Briefing of Vista today at Microsoft. Lot of nice new features.
They spent alot of the 2 1/2 hours talking about all the new security. One nice feature is you can be a restricted user, but raise the rights level as it pertains to one program. So older apps that don't understand the whole rights thing can be run with admin privileges, while at the same time you can be running your word, ie and outlook as a restricted user.
They also showed how you won't have to logoff as a restricted user and log on as an admin to install software. When you run the installer, it will ask you for the admin password. If you have it, great...if you don't then it cancels.
Looking forward actually working with it and not just looking at it on a screen.
Posted by hastalavista (1 posts) on Wednesday, Jul 27, 2005, 9:15 am
- IP: Hidden
Matt --
Thank you for posting at our site. I have responded there but thought I might reply here just in case you miss it.
We admire your work as well and hold your site in high regard. As you know, I attended the Longhorn Lab this past weekend and we both have similar sources. My sources told me exactly what yours did, that the internal release date of the 27th was met and that the August 3rd date was set for MSDN. I was actually told the date on July 8th and we have been posting it for several weeks. On Saturday, I was told that the target would probably be met and I was also told today (yesterday) that it was. We just didn't see it as breaking news as it was simply the completion of what had been reported here for some time.
A number of sites picked up on the story and it became a runaway train. Unfortunately, we can't go back in time so all we can do is hope that some of our members may post friendly comments just to let folks know that they could find similar information here.
I certainly would never accuse anyone of taking information from us without credit and would hope that our members don't either. My personal reaction was that this was information many sites had and that it was not necessarily worthy of the attention it received. But that is an editorial decision on the part of others and not for me to decide. Nor can I judge how people react to a story.
I apologize for any misinterpretations on anyone's part and I congratulate you on your fine reporting and admire you for the level of attention it received. Now on to Beta 1!
Larry Richman
Chief Branding Officer
Pronetworks Corporation
Posted by boe (168 posts) on Thursday, Jul 28, 2005, 7:43 am
- IP: Hidden
I've tried the IE7 beta since I'm about to reformat my drive anyways - I do it every 6 months because of the betas I install
Issues -
Favorites drop down list has issues when going to 2nd column - sometimes it shows - sometimes it shows with no favorites in it
Still can't easily add buttons to the toolbar for favorites - e.g 9down.com since there are some I go to every day. Good news, the custom buttons I created for IE6 worked in IE7 for the most part. Sad you can do this with competitors OLDER browsers.
Tabs unreliable - sometimes they close on their own.
The autosizer I installed fo IE6 so any time I open an IE session it is full sized doesn't work with IE7 - too bad that feature wasn't built right into IE!
Posted by Toink (6 posts) on Friday, Jul 29, 2005, 1:03 am
(1 replies to this Comment) | - IP: Hidden
Hi guys... this maybe such a noob question but anyways, could someone please confirm if the Longhorn BETA 1 has a 32-bit version? Or to be more specific, is it available in the Official BETA site, Microsoft One?
Thanks!
Last Edited By Toink On Friday, Jul 29, 2005, 1:06 am
Posted by boe (168 posts) on Friday, Jul 29, 2005, 2:15 am
- IP: Hidden
Other issues I've found with IE7 beta. I know it is a beta but it really doesn't work well at all.
When you open a second tab/viewer it goes to a blank page. Most people I know have a news page as their home page -e.g. cnn, yahoo, msn. When opening up a second screen it is almost always to check prices or research - e.g. shopping.yahoo.com or google advanced search. It would be nice if you could make a second tab always go to some default other than your home page.
I like my URL to be below all the other buttons but it is at the top and I can't find a way to move it as you would in IE6.
With the amount of times people have asked - you'd think auto maximize would be built in by now!
Often pages/tabs get stuck - closing the tab/viewer for that page is the only way out.
Since you have a tabbed browser - why not give an option to make one browser open only.
If the tabs/viewers worked well I could accept the lack of control/options but this doesn't do ANYTHING well - not ready for beta1 in my opinion.
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