Microsoft on Wednesday released the fourth preview of Windows Vista, and called the operating system now "feature complete."
Long expected, the fourth Community Technology Preview (CTP) version of Vista was rolled out to the same group of testers who have been working with the OS since September 2005. Then, Microsoft said it would unveil monthly previews, but reneged on that promise in November when it ran into difficulties meeting schedule.
Unlike the December CTP, which highlighted the OS's consumer features, this preview focuses on Vista's business prowess, Microsoft officials said during a telephone conference call with journalists.
Among the tools and features stressed Wednesday were enterprise deployment tools to roll out the Vista client, the Windows System Image Manager (Windows SIM) for adding components to a disk image, and an updated migration tool for moving settings from older editions of the Microsoft OS.
Microsoft Management Console has also been updated, said the Redmond, Wash.-based developer, and improvements made to group policies. The latter include new policies for controlling removable storage devices, such as flash drives, to block their use, for instance, on some machines, or allow read-only from a device on other PCs.
