Report: Vista coupons coming later this month

It’s no secret that Microsoft and its PC partners are readying coupons to help make up for the fact that there won’t be any PCs preloaded with Vista ready for this holiday season.

According to CRN, Microsoft is, indeed, going to launch its coupon program later this month. The coupons will be valid from October 26 to March 15, the report says. Some of the coupons will offer customers free upgrades to Vista once it is available in January 2007. Other coupons will offer a discounted upgrade price from XP to Vista, CRN says.

Microsoft would not comment on the particulars of the CRN report, beyond the usual “we’re working with our partners on this.”

In other Vista news of note, Microsoft is poised to drop its last wide-scale Vista test build any day now. The Softies posted late on October 4 to the Microsoft Vista “Get Ready” site a note about the new build, which it seems will be No. 5744.

Microsoft hastily removed the note, but not before ActiveWin.com captured it:

“This page includes information to help you download Windows Vista RC2, a new test build. This build (5744) has a number of improvements and updates from previous builds, and has been through daily testing processes to refine quality and performance. We are making this release available for a limited time only (and only by download) in order to get broad distribution and testing in a variety of PC configurations. Please note: This build may not have the same level of support or servicing via Windows Update as RC1, and you may not be able to upgrade from this build to the final version of Windows Vista. To continue, please use the links below to start the download.”