going gold means the final "master' version of the to be released product has been compiled, and has been sent to the manufacturing plant that will press the cd/dvd's. the term is used to differentiate in time the point up to which further fixes and changes are possible, and when the product has been finalized (but not manufactured or shipped yet)
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"Gone gold" means that the gold "master" CD has been delivered to manufacturing (the CD may or may not actually be gold. The term derived from the fact that CD-R media used to be gold colored. "Gone green", "Gone blue", or "Gone silver" just doesn't have the same feel as "Gone gold"). This is the CD from which all shipping CDs are pressed (shipping CDs are pressed, not burned like the master CD). Depending on the manufacturing run, a game that has "gone gold" may ship to stores in as little as a few days or as late as a few months.
You may also see "RTM", an acronym for "Released To Manufacturing". It means the same thing as "gone gold". "Gone gold" is usually used for games, while "RTM" is usually used for applications. For web sites, you may see "RTW", an acronym for "Released To the Web", as a similar statement to "RTM" or "Gone Gold"
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