Quote:
Originally Posted by johnhook
Normal has ended. RTM was when the OS was released to the large OEMs to be installed and tested on that hardware, Public release was often after. Windows could always be sourced prior to the retail release easily enough so I never waited
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RTM was also the date on which the files (presumably ISOs) got sent the to the disk manufacturers so they could ensure they had an adequate supply of disks ready to go for launch day. Even the largest duplicating factories on the planet need adequate time to run off hundreds of thousands of copies of a disk.
Then there was the time actually required to get these disks to the distribution centres and the shops.
This is why manufacturers often had to release patches to fix bugs almost on the day of release. They had to release the software to manufacturing several weeks early, but still carried on bug fixing.
Now, they can carry on almost until the release time. They might have to upload it a day or two early to allow the content delivery networks used by the various app stores and Windows Update to catch up, but it's still a lot quicker that waiting for someone to run off 100,000 disks.
Of course, they still need to give their OEMS (and other people) time to adequately test it.