Alpha, Beta, MSDN, RC, OEM, RTM, and CTP

Alpha: Internal beta version, which is generally not released to external users.

Beta: This is the most widely heard word. It is easy to understand that it is the test version. New features will be added to the version at this stage.

MSDN (Microsoft Developer Network)
This is a version of Microsoft for software developers. MSDN covers all the platforms and applications that can be developed and expanded. Therefore, Microsoft's Encyclopedia Encarta or various games are not included in MSDN, because these products are directly oriented to end users, there is no need for program development.

RC :( Release Candidate) Candidate indicates a Candidate, which is a Candidate version in software. Release Candidate is a Candidate Release version. The biggest difference from the Beta version is that new features will be added in the Beta stage, but in the RC version, new features will be hardly added, and debugging is the main focus.

OEM: original equipment manufacturer random edition. It can only be shipped with random machines and cannot be sold. Therefore, it is called random edition. It can only be completely installed and cannot be upgraded from the old operating system. If you buy a laptop or brand computer, you will have a random version of the software. The packaging is not as elegant as the retail version. Generally, there is only one cd and one instruction (authorization letter ). This type of system usually has fewer drivers, and the current oem version is rarely installed on the CD, either restoring the disk or the hard disk image.

RTM: release to manufacturing retail edition is a batch of flat versions for the factory. The content is the same as the official version.

CTP: Community Test Preview Community Test trial version.