ultimate RC or professional? is pro a final release? MSDNAA

so I have access to MSDN academic alliance and I can download either ultimate RC or professional. I know about the different features and I'd rather get the ultimate. But it's an RC and the professional doesn't say if it's RC or not, is it possible that it's the final release?

I would not want to get the RC and then have to reinstall or have a more unstable version.

does anybody know anything about it?

 

yeah the pro is the final release

 

so should I get the pro since it's a final instead of an RC? will there be an update that will bring the RC up to date with the final?

 

Yes. Nothing official, though someone make create a hack to fool Windows Update, but IMHO you'd be playing with fire.

 

Just wait until Win7 comes out.

 

No,just go for the Professional. That IS the final, and chances are you're not going to be missing anything from Pro to Ultimate. Don't get suckered into using the RC that expires in March just so you can have the cool name.

 

I believe this is the professional not the home professional

 

There's Professional and there's Enterprise. MSDNAA has Professional.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_7_editions#Comparison_chart

nothing you really need from Ultimate you can't get from Pro...

AppLocker, BitLocker, BranchCache Distributed Cache, DirectAccess, Virtual HDD booting, Languages, Subaccess for unik system

 

Pro is the final release. You won't get Ultimate. This is the same as when Vista came out. There was Ultimate RC and Vista Business. Ultimate RC was removed after awhile. Just get Pro it works great and you get to play with the real deal before most others.

 

If it the same as vista, then we can expect the Enterprise version (which is the same as Ultimate) soon.

 

I am already running Win7 Ultimate Final and it's awesome!

 

Congrats! Here's a cookie.

 

More like RTM.. not Final.. nice try.

 

Enterprise was never offered at my school.

 

How soon is soon do you think?

I'm just trying to get a sense of what you expect since I'd rather go with Enterprise than Pro (due to Bitlocker), but now's a more convenient time to cut over to the RTM release.

 

What is the difference?

 

RTM means "We REALLY think that it's the final version, but we are not sure yet." It's the Release Candidate of the Release Candidate, if you want.
Usually, they are still fixes applied to the RTM before hitting store shelves, not to mention that it's still missing official Win7 driver from manufacture in the built-in OS driver database, meaning the drivers installed from Win7, and not updated via Windows Update (as it's the latest version, or not published yet), could be Vista drivers, Win7 alpha or beta drivers.


I hope that if you have problems with your system you don't refer your Win7 as "final" after October 22, as that will just bug people in solving issues that don't exists in the real final, and waist everyone's time. Then if you specify RTM, you'll get better help.

 

RTM gets updates just like Retail, so there isn't going to be a difference between RTM and Retail after it launches.

The only problem is that I don't believe Microsoft has released Windows 7 Ultimate RTM to anyone yet, so the only way you can be in possession of it is through piracy.

 

Technet and MSDN subscribers can get Ultimate RTM.
My brother works for company that partners with Microsoft and he's getting free software like those of MSDN. I got Ultimate free that way.

Yeah, it's up to the Administrator of your school to decide. For those that getting MSDNAA through IEEE, Vista enterprise is available.

I would say 2 or 3 months after it hits retail store in October.

 

it'll take some time before elms will offer windows 7 enterprise. my school offered windows vista enterprise only when vista sp1 came out. otherwise, win7 pro is all you need

 

I am downloading the PRO 32 and 64 for now. If in the future I will really need encryption I will download another software. But now it looks like they made me install a downloader and it looks like it's gonna try to install the OS when it's done. lame. does anybody know if I can just quit when the download is over?

 

Despite how it appears, it doesn't install the OS when the download completes, it just leaves you an .ISO file for you to burn to DVD at your leisure.

 

I have the same thing msdnaa your only gonna be able to get windows 7 professional from them... and prob later on youll get another 2 licenses pro 64bit and 32bit prob by next year but use windows 7 professional rtm..

 

also in msdnaa, its not common to get new licenses when they release a new service pack or when they release cd versions of the installer. just look at how many licenses you can actually get with vista now on msdnaa.