According to very recent internal Microsoft documentation, the software giant is planning an aggressive release schedule for several products over the next year or so. I've come across the release schedules for Windows Vista (codenamed "Longhorn"), WinFS, and SQL Server 2005 (codenamed "Yukon"). Here's what I found out.
Despite rumors to the contrary, but in keeping with the schedule I first published on the SuperSite for Windows months ago, Microsoft is planning to ship Windows Vista Beta 2 in late 2005, not in early 2006. According to internal documentation I recently reviewed, Vista Beta 2 is scheduled to be "feature complete" by September 29, 2005. Then, Vista Beta 2 will enter lockdown mode between October and November 9, 2005. After that date, Beta 2 will be in escrow. Microsoft now plans to ship Windows Vista Beta 2 on December 7, 2005, about three weeks later than the last schedule I obtained.
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