The Xena Blog

More than you ever wanted to know about MSDN Subscriber Downloads

So, what does everyone think about CTP builds?

I ask because my content calendar is starting to get filled with CTP builds for Avalon, Visual Studio 2005, Windows Server 2003 SP1, etc.  In the past we have only really published major public betas in the MSDN Subscription, now we're practically publishing daily builds in real time.  So, is this kind of content churn useful for people?  (Given that VS is a 5GB download).  I personally don't mind (now that I have a team to manage my content), but I am sort of wondering if these CTP builds are useful or if subscribers mostly are interested in public stable builds.
Posted: Dec 09 2004, 05:07 PM by ntmatter | with 6 comment(s)

Comments

Todd Spatafore said:

Well, I for one really appreciate having access to these CTP's. It's great to see the progress being made and be able to provide feedback to the teams. Keep them coming, but if possible could you shuffle them off into their own tree branch? To make it more obvious which are the stable/released products and which are the CTP/Beta products.
# December 9, 2004 8:22 PM

Geoff Appleby said:

I think they're definately worth having. To find bugs and report them is good - to then see a report saying it's been fixed is great. To get a download not long later to see the fix for yourself is fantastic.
Also, by having a recent drop, any bugs found and reported you can be more confident that they're new and not something that's been reported 15000 times already :)
# December 9, 2004 9:45 PM

Shannon J Hager said:

I agree with Geoff but I think that most people expect to use a mix of products together and that it should be made a little more clear if the builds are compatible with other products or not. I have been using the SQL Server 2005 drops exclusively so I haven't had the problems with Whidbey drops that some have had.
I definitely think the drops should continue. The length of time we were stuck with Yukon Beta 1 was far too long. I understand that drops are easier to coordinate later in the game but I would have been able to do a LOT more testing if we had been given more incremental drops before Beta 2.
# December 9, 2004 11:07 PM

Alex said:

I like CTPs as well... just wish I wouldnt have to emule most of the stuff i'm interested in... don't have an msdn subscribtion

# December 10, 2004 12:04 AM

Roger Bonine said:

The CTP builds are very useful for those of us that do long-term project planning. Keep 'em coming!
# December 10, 2004 10:34 AM

SmartiKat said:

It really helps to have access to CTPs. Or automatically enroll MSDN subscribers to major Betas will be nice too. I found the SQL CTP extremely useful, and the VS 2005 beta usable. From past experience, both SQL and VS's beta are way better than the existing RTM ver. OSes Beta, however, are mostly useless until the RCs.
# December 10, 2004 3:41 PM
Leave a Comment

(required) 

(required) 

(optional)

(required)