Vista RC2 Available

The last beta version of Vista has been released, even though it is only for official beta testers for the time being. The RC2 should be available for the public in the coming days.
Microsoft seems to be on track to its schedule for releasing the final version beginning Q1 2007. Apple will probably release Leopard around Q2 2007. But for sure Steve jobs will probably comment on Vista during the San Francisco MacWorld Keynote.
We think that Vista is a good thing for both Mac users and Apple:
- First for Mac users because it will force Apple to keep the innovation wheel running, with the release of OSX 5 years ago, the system is fully mature, reliable and robust, and the recent updates have mostly been on "cosmetics" aspects or "gadgetization" (widgets); without really bringing ground breaking innovation. It is also normal, every OSX updates should not be a complete new system, but rather bringing improvements and reliability; however, after Tiger, there is not much to improve, and Leopard with have to bring new features and improvements coming from deeper layer in the system.
- For Apple, via BootCamp and Parallels, a Mac has never been so closed to the universal computer, allowing any users to run its favorite applications independent of the OS. It will also strongly secure PC users tempted by a switch to MacOSX. Indeed, in addition to the dual boot abilities of the MacIntel, Microsoft Windows has never been so closed/similar to MacOS (we did not say so well copied). But MacOSX will be a fully mature system while vista will require at least 2 years to become a reliable OS, based on the life cycle of WinXP.
At the end Microsoft Vista might be the best weapon for Cupertino to reach the expected 10% market shares.