Microsoft Release Codes, Decoded

(un)Official Microsoft Definitions for Release Codes

Alpha - Our attempt at humor. Maybe it will install, maybe it won't. Ha ha, sucker, now go write your blog post titled "My experience installing...".

Tech Preview - You know that prototype we've been screwing around with? Well dude, we got totally trashed over the weekend, and Brian posted the bits!. They're out there man. He made up this, like, "Tech Preview SDK" installer, and slipped it on to MSDN, and people are freak'n downloading it! The marketing guy is so pissed because now he has to write up a bunch of stuff trying to make it look like we posted this on purpose. Poor Brian. He's been re-org'd over to the Microsoft Train Simulator team.

CTP (Community Tech Preview) - We know this build is very broken and incomplete, but we're putting it out there anyways. You're not going to complain though, because if it weren't for these CTPs, you'd have to wait 6 - 12 months to see anything new.

Beta RC (Beta Release Candidate) - We were going to call it a Beta, but we had a bad feeling about this one, so we decided to hedge and throw that "RC" on there at the last minute. If you find nasty bugs, hey buddy, it's a Beta "RC".

Beta - You might actually want to install this and check it out. It will install on a clean box, and the product will launch without error (at least errors that you'll see). Many of you will ask if you can "go live" and use this in a production environment. There's enough of you that've we've created a persona for you called "Fool", as in "Fool built their production Victoria Secret Web site on beta software and debuted it during the Super Bowl." We love you man, but we also think you're freak'n nuts.

RC (Release Candidate) - We know it's not quite good enought to sell, but we're not sure why, and our QA department is tired of looking at it. That's where you come in. Could you QA this thing? We'd really like to start making some bucks off it.

RTM = Sellable (a.k.a. the Ka-ching release). This is last release before the product becomes fully functional.

RTM + SP1 - Wow, we had no idea that much stuff was broken. Thanks for finding all the bugs, but next time could you find them and tell us when it's still an RC? We fixed some, and classified the others as "Not bug". Hey, you have to reboot eventually anyways, right? Oh, and there were some features that didn't get done in time for RTM, so we threw those in here too (they'll generate the need for an SP2). Enjoy. By the way, we've just posted this really cool Alpha of the next verson. You should check it out.