I plan to live forever. So far, so good.

I decided to put this all in one post, just to make it easier for me to give links and details on all this to my friends…

So, the story so far: it’s September, and new releases got out. First, we have Vista RC1 (build 5600) that has come out at the beginning of the month. Here are the relevant links:

• Download Windows Vista RC1 – The place where you can (still) find Windows Vista RC1 available for download. You will need a Windows Live ID (former .NET Passport) in order to get to the download itself.
  
• Windows Vista RC1 Release Notes – Release Notes containing known issues for the RC1 version of the Microsoft Windows Vista operating system.

Okay, you’ve got Vista running. But there’s one thing: the Beta 2 version of Office 2007 doesn’t work on Vista RC1. Microsoft did release a “Technical Refresh” version, which will work. You still need the Beta 2 release in order to install this, though.

Also, this release brings forward the PDF/XPS export thingie that I mentioned last month, with the option being removed and made available as a separate download. To make things short, here’s everything you need for downloading the Office 2007 Technical Refresh.

As a quick footnote here: Vista RC1 (build 5600) isn’t the latest public release. Build 5728 was released a few days ago, and is available to beta testers. You can find a few screenshots of this build on Paul Thurrott’s site.

Also, here’s something from the latest Vista and Office Beta Experience newsletter:

In this issue 3Sharp have produced some great virtual labs on MSDN.

They are built on Beta 2 and include the following:

Creating Workflows for Windows SharePoint Services
Introducing Content Types for Windows SharePoint Services
Understanding the 2007 Microsoft Office System User Experience and Interface Design
Programmatic Manipulation of the Microsoft Office Open XML Formats

You will need to register to run the labs but that should only take a minute.

Also in this issue we go deeper into Business Intelligence, Ted Pattison takes us step by step through configuring SharePoint for Excel Services and deploying spreadsheets. Patrick Tisseghem of U2U shows us how to use User Defined Functions in Excel Services.

For those of you who are code starved, Ted also shows us how to use WSS Events in Creating and Using Event Handlers in WSS 3.0 Finally keep your eyes open for announcements on the Technology Refresh for Beta 2 of 2007 Microsoft Office release.