Paul Thurrott has published the first part of his Windows Vista February 2006 CTP (Build 5308) review

My initial reaction was muted. Despite the promise of this build being the first feature-complete version of Windows Vista to make its way outside the ivory towers of Microsoft's Redmond campus, build 5308, at first glance, seemed an awful lot like the previous CTP. There didn't appear to be any major new features, and on my first few installs, I experienced the same driver issues as I had on previous CTPs.

Then I installed it on my main desktop. I had been hoping for a version of Windows Vista that I could run regularly for some time, and the past few CTPs certainly didn't fill that bill. But after installing build 5308 on my Athlon 64-based desktop, I was shocked to discover that the only device that needed a driver was the audio card, and I already had a Vista-compatible driver for that. Soon, for the first time ever, I had a completely working Vista system, with all devices accounted for. Could it be?

Windows Vista February 2006 CTP (Build 5308) Review, Part 1