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Is there a large difference between RTM and Retail?

Is there a large difference between RTM and Retail?

Postby Cornflake » Tue Jan 30, 2007 10:35 pm

Hi everyone,

In light of learning more facts about upgrade DVDs for vista and such, I just had a simple question: Are there any major differences between Vista Retail and RTM? We would have to compare Ultimate editions, though. I decided that i'm going to wait a little while to purchase the full retail copy, since there are no creative drivers with all the normal features, and it sucks you need an in-place install of XP already there to upgrade. Thanks for any feedback!
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Postby Grav!ty » Tue Jan 30, 2007 10:39 pm

RTM means Release to Manufacture and is the same as the "Retail" version. It is essentially the same build. "Retail" really refers to the type of version. Other versions are for example "OEM" and "Upgrade".
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Postby Cornflake » Wed Jan 31, 2007 3:20 am

So, if you compare Vista Ultimate full retail (Which can install all versions below that, if you use the correct key) there's essentially no difference at all because they are both considered 'ultimate'? I was just wondering because there is still alot of material talking about the RTM because they haven't been updated for the full release yet.
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Postby Grav!ty » Wed Jan 31, 2007 4:21 am

Yes, in Windows XP terms, the very first release was the RTM or Gold version. Of course you got Professional and Home RTM/Gold. Then came Windows XP Service Pack 1 followed by Windows XP Service Pack 2. Only the original was referred to as RTM/Gold.

So with Windows Vista you get Ultimate, Business, Home Premium, Home Basic all referred to as RTM (being the original release or RTM/Gold). One rarely sees the use of the term Gold though. It will only not be known as RTM once a service pack for it is released. That's due July I think.

Then you also get RTM versions of the Retail, OEM and Upgrade copies but they are all based on the original final code and often it's just the license terms that are different.

Wikipedia explains it way better than me:
Gold/general availability release

The gold or general availability release version is the final version of a particular product. It is typically almost identical to the final release candidate, with only last-minute bugs fixed. A gold release is considered to be very stable and relatively bug-free with a quality suitable for wide distribution and use by end users. In commercial software releases, this version may also be signed (used to allow end-users to verify that code has not been modified since the release). The expression that a software product "has gone gold" means that the code has been completed and "is being mass-produced and will be for sale soon." Other terms for the version include gold master, gold release, or gold build.

The term gold anecdotally refers to the use of "gold master disc" which was commonly used to send the final version to manufacturers who use it to create the mass-produced retail copies. It may in this context be a hold-over from music production. In some cases, however, the master disc is still actually made of gold, for both aesthetic appeal and resistance to corrosion.

Microsoft and others use the term "release to manufacturing" (RTM) to refer to this version (for commercial products, like Windows XP, as in, "Build 2600 is the Windows XP RTM release"
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Postby The Phoenix » Wed Jan 31, 2007 8:28 am

I don't see any differences, tell ya what though, there is still one big mystery .....

There is still no bootscreen cept the green loading bar, and it's still the case once you hae downloaded all the updates from Microsoft and I was using a Ultimate OEM Copy. Huh ?
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Postby Michaels » Wed Jan 31, 2007 9:34 am

so it isn't smart to buy any of the versions if one has the RTM? -right?
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Postby The Phoenix » Wed Jan 31, 2007 9:48 am

I would say No. There appears to be no differences between RTM and Retail as they released patches and stuff to bring RTM up to par.
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Postby Firecapt » Wed Jan 31, 2007 3:55 pm

you can simply make it a no GUI boot if you want to see moething during the bootup. just take the check mark out of it in msconfig.
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Re: Is there a large difference between RTM and Retail?

Postby amoo_gandalf » Mon Oct 12, 2009 6:53 am

Yes Actually there is a Large difference between the RTM and RETAIL ...RTM is release to manufacturer or release Test manufacturer... is a test release to the manufacturers for test and debugging drivers... so you will experience Hanging long problems and incompatibility with the most of real time applications and devices such as satellite DVB cards and tv-capturing cards... high end graphic cards... and many internet security softwares ... even if you download and install Proper win7 drivers for that devices you will experience Fatal problems... i highly recommend not to install RTM release win7 ...i have personally tested all RTM versions of win 7 and all of them have critical bugs and problems... just wait 2-3 months from now on for a proper win7 retail or oem to be released...
let me say one of my experiences,,, for example with a CORE 2 EXTREME Qx9770 and 8 gigs of ram radeon 4890X2 2gb... the win7 RTM 7600 ultimate x64 hanged occasionally and periodically ... totally incompatible with kaspersky internet security 2010...long freezes
i just reverted back to my vista ultimate x64 and all problems suddenly gone!!!
same as x86 version
this RTM release is just for test,,, do not rely on it.
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Re: Is there a large difference between RTM and Retail?

Postby NT50 » Mon Oct 12, 2009 12:40 pm

I am running the Technet RTM with no hangups, no problems, no freezes, nothing wrong. I use MS Office 2k7 Ultimate, NOD32, and COD4. The ONLY problem I have sometimes is COD4 will ping out when entering a server. This is a problem though with older software and newer OS.

BTW: amoo_gandalf, I reduced your text size back to normal.
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