WinInfo Short Takes: Week of December 12

The man who just 'knows' has spoken out on the December CTP build & possible dates of delivery. Testers were sadly disappointed last month when Microsoft failed to deliver the November CTP build (that would of been 5259) touting that it had 'issues' and it was probably better to wait for a 'better more feature complete version' in December. According to Thurrott the December build won't be the feature complete build all testers were hoping for, almost, but not quite. Whatever that means. Oh, and heres 2 short takes from Wininfo for your enjoyment.

Windows Vista December CTP: Build 5276

The December Community Preview (CTP) build of Windows Vista will be build 5276, plus or minus one build, I was told today. Beta testers, MSDN subscribers, and TechNet members can expect to the see December CTP in a week or ten days. It includes a huge number of new features when compared to the previous CTP (October), but is not the feature complete version of Vista that Microsoft promised to deliver in December. That feature complete version will be delivered internally this month, but testers won't see a feature complete CTP until January or February.

Microsoft Cuts Vista UI to Two Display Modes

And speaking of Windows Vista, you might recall that Microsoft had originally planned to deliver three versions of the new user interface, called Aero Glass, Aero Express, and Aero To Go. Those plans have been revised. Now, Microsoft will offer two modes only, called Windows Vista Aero (which includes the glass effects) and Windows Vista Basic, which is roughly like the XP display. However, all of the capabilities of the three previous modes are still in there: Windows Vista Aero is the equivalent of Aero Glass, and you can get the equivalent of Aero Express by turning off the translucency effects while running Windows Vista Aero. The best news? Contrary to rumors, you'll only need a 64 MB video card with hardware 3D capabilities to run Windows Vista Aero on a typical PC (higher resolution displays will require more video RAM).