Update February 20: Books are now in stock at Amazon.com and all existing orders should have been filled. If you have a copy, why not post a review?
Juliana Aldous at Microsoft Press has photographic proof. I haven’t got my copy yet, nor has Amazon.com, but they should be available any minute now.
(Are they there yet? No? How about now? Not yet? Dang!)
If you’ve preordered a copy from Amazon, your copy will go in the mail as soon as the shipment hits the warehouse.
Ed Bott 
Congratulations and two big thumbs up!
Congratulations Ed. I ordered mine months ago. Can’t wait to read it.
Ed, you missed out on an opportunity to provide a backhanded return volley to your buddy Paul, who yesterday, in the process of announcing his own book, said:
“Best of all, it’s not a 2,000 page tome full of useless information that will kill you if you fall asleep while reading it.”
http://www.winsupersite.com/vista
Cool! Congratulations Ed and the gang! This is a book that I’ve been eagerly awaiting since you started writing it! 🙂
My mother always told me if I don’t have anything nice to say, say nothing at all.
Seriously, when Amazon has the book, or when someone sees them side by side on the bookshelf, there’s a simple test you can make. Go to the Search Inside the Book feature and look up a topic you’re interested in. Do this for each book and then compare. I’ll let our book stand on its own merits. We worked hard to make sure it was filled with useful information, but our readers will be the ultimate judge.
Ed, this is great news. Congratulations! I pre-ordered mine from Amazon back in July, and I hope it arrives before Vista itself does. Your “Inside Out” books are simply the best in this class. I consider them indispensible reading for anyone who is serious about understanding Windows.
Ed, one more thing. I tend to buy lots of these books, but only your book and the Windows Internals book answered all of my theoretical and practical questions. It is much more than a paper version of the XP Product documentation. It is chock full of practical advice on how to do things the right way, from maintenance to customization to file management. Again, I am looking forward eagerly to my Vista book when it arrives.
Congrats, Ed!
Finishing a book and seeing it for sale . . . what does that feel like??
You’ll know soon enough, Dwight!
Ed:
I can tell you already… it WON’T be soon enough.
Ugh.
Dwight.
Is it going to ship with a CD containing an e-book like XP Inside & Out did? Having my entire portable reference library on a thumb drive has become an important aspect of my job these days.
Coder,
the full text of the book will indeed be on a CD included with the book. And to the best of my knowledge, that file will be in Acrobat format, with no copy protection, just as in the previous edition. If that changes, I’ll let you know.
I’m like you. I rarely pull Windows XP Inside Out (or any other paper book) off the shelf to look at it. I’m much more likely to search through my electronic copy.
Ed –
CONGRATULATIONS!
I’m eagerly awaiting my copy. It’ll get out here sooner or later. Slow boats and all that.
No doubt it’ll become (yet another) Bott Classic.
Congratulations, Ed! If this book is even half as good as the one you guys did for Windows XP, it’s gonna be an indispensable tool. I just wish the ebook version was in Microsoft Reader format. I always thought that if Microsoft Press wouldn’t use the format, how could they expect other publishers to. Have any insights on this?
Cliff,
I can’t speak for MS Press, but I can tell you as a customer and reader that I would be VERY unhappy if I had to install the Reader software to view this book. It would be a very nice option, I suppose, as a secondary format in addition to PDF. But if it were the default format the customer feedback would be overwhelmingly negative. Guaranteed.
But Ed, if it was in Microsoft Reader format, we could read it on our Windows Mobile PDA phones and never leave home without it!
I get your point. But they should include both formats. Definitely.
I ordered my copy from Amazon.com long ago. Just this week though, I received an email stating that it wouldn’t ship until late February or March. Any idea why Amazon.com is experiencing such a delay?
XP Inside Out was very helpful to me and I am looking forward to reading Vista Inside Out asap.
Thanks,
Matt
matt,
I checked with my publisher on this yesterday. We believe this message is completely bogus.
Here’s what’s happening: The book is now officially released. When Amazon received that notification, they changed its status from Pre-release to Available for ordering. They also added a note on the page saying that it “normally ships in three to four weeks.” At the same time, the e-mail you received went out to customers who pre-ordered.
In actuality, the books are on the way to Amazon now and should be there any day. Given Amazon’s supply chain, they should ship as soon as they arrive. But apparently Amazon likes to underpromise and overdeliver, so they send out the generic notices that you received.
I find this infuriating. I will get a more accurate status and get back to you asap.