Microsoft's Vista Comes Into View

The latest prerelease version of Vista is getting generally positive reviews, a sign that the long-delayed successor to Microsoft'sMSFT Windows XP operating system has a fighting chance to hit its latest launch deadline.

"Initial feedback has been positive with many testers citing significant improvements in key areas such as application and hardware compatibility, user experience, and performance," Goldman Sachs analyst Rick Sherlund wrote in a note to clients. "This is in sharp contrast to the negative feedback following the release of Beta 2 in May, implying that the Vista team has made substantial progress with the product over the summer," he added.

The current version of the software is known as RC-1, which stands for release candidate one, a step closer to completion than a beta version. There will certainly be a number of release candidates before the software is released to manufacturing and then sold.

The company's testing process uses millions of volunteer computer enthusiasts (along with Microsoft professionals), and much of the feedback is posted on blogs and home-grown Web sites scattered across the Internet. Microsoft also will distribute the software to technology publications later this week.

Microsoft's latest self-imposed deadlines are a November release to large business customers and general availability in January. Despite the positive early reviews, it's not clear if Microsoft will be able to find and squash the remaining bugs in time to hit those marks.