On Friday Microsoft released Windows Vista build 5536. This is a pre-RC1 build. On Monday, Microsoft expects to release build 5552 which many anticipate to be the official first release candidate of Windows Vista. Now, Paul Thurrott published a new review on Windows Vista Build 5536:

There's no doubt about it: Windows Vista has taken too long to ship, and the first major milestone that Microsoft shipped to the public, Beta 2, was a disappointment. Since then, the company has shipped three promising interim builds to testers. The latest one, build 5536, an RC1 escrow build, is simply wonderful. If this build represents the quality, performance, and functionality that users can expect to see in RC1 and the final release, then Microsoft will have gone a long way towards making up for its mistakes and miscalculations. My only question is why we had to wait so long to see a build this good. If you can get your hands on 5536, enjoy it. If not, RC1 will be publicly available. Either way, you likely won't be disappointed.