Jim Allchin (Platforms and Services Co-President) announced that Windows Vista RC1 is now complete. Some bloggers reported that it can be downloaded at Microsoft Connect. But this link didn’t work for me and I couldn’t find it there, too. Maybe Microsoft removed it by now?

Somehow this release seems a little too fast for me. Just a couple of days ago, they released Pre-RC1. I still encountered some serious bugs there when I tested Group Policies; I even got a reproduceable blue screen under VMware, and on a relatively new PC from Fujitsi-Siemens, Vista didn’t respond anymore after entering sleep mode.

In my view, Vista is too unstable for a release candidate. Maybe this is also due the fact that I played with some Vista features which are not so exciting for most testers. I guess, there will be a public download available soon. I am curious to see if they fixed those bugs.

Some screenshots and reviews about Vista RC1 are already available:

Robert Burke: Windows Vista RC1 – first impressions Windows Connected: Vista RC1 Review #1- Screenshots & Review Windows Connected: Windows Vista RC1 – Review #2, Media Center Windows Connected: RC1 – First Impressions and Screen Shots APC Magazine: Vista RC1: looks good but boots s-l-o-w…