What's in a name?
As for timing, Allchin said development is basically on track for the schedule outlined by the company last autumn. An updated developer preview version will be given out at WinHEC, the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference, set to take place at month's end in Seattle. The company is still shooting for an initial beta around midyear, though it could be July, as the new official schedule is "early summer". A second beta is planned, though no final date has been given, with the goal of having the OS broadly available on PCs by next year's holiday season. Longhorn will come in 32-bit and 64-bit versions, Allchin said.
While many details about Longhorn have been nailed down, others, including its name, are still up in the air. The company is close to deciding which different versions will be available, but it's not ready to announce that yet. It is too soon to say, for example, whether there will be separate Media Center or Tablet PC editions, Allchin said.
"We are moving features around," he said.
Microsoft talked fairly early about Longhorn, with company chairman Bill Gates first demonstrating it at a developer conference in October 2003. At the time, the company focused largely on the "under the hood" features of the OS — in particular, a new file system, Web services architecture and the presentation system.
Since then, Microsoft has significantly reshaped the OS. Last year, the company announced that it would pull out the new file system and that the Web services and presentation pieces would also be made available for Windows XP.
Got to know when to hold 'em
Allchin said his priority is making sure Longhorn meets quality standards, followed by getting the product out on schedule. Packing it full of features is a third priority, and the one most likely to give. As a result, Microsoft would delay Longhorn over quality concerns, but is unlikely to let individual features hold up its release. That could mean some further trimming around the edges if things fall behind.
As with Windows XP Service Pack 2, security remains at the forefront of Microsoft's development efforts. With Longhorn, Microsoft isn't focusing as much on building in antivirus software as it is changing the behaviours that leave computer systems vulnerable to attack. For example, most computers today are run in administrator mode, making it easy to add new programs and make other changes, but also allowing major fundamental changes to a computer to be made by malicious software.
Talkback
I really don't think Microsoft would gain anything from releasign the features of Windows Media Center Edition in a seperate version, I beleieve there could be a version released concentrating on media but the benefits of viewing and recording TV should be available as WMP is in all versions of Windows today.
"As a result, Microsoft would delay Longhorn over quality concerns, but is unlikely to let individual features hold up its release. That could mean some further trimming around the edges if things fall behind"
What does it matter anyway, Windows XP has only just recently become Windows XP 'properly' thanks to the SP2 release. It's going to be 2007 before WinFS is available and then further on the service packs will make it what it should be so really you should be looking at adopting Longhorn two years from now, not just one.
Regarding networks, my sister and I had a two PC home network set up and the hardest thing, which you wouldn't expect, was to communicate between the two. I would like to see MSN Messenger recognise local contacts which would allow messages to be passed along the network rather than over the internet. Also I am looking forward to the Graphical features, vector icons and smoother transitions and not really the business side of things.
I'm a home user after all.
512 MB of Ram? I bet you can double that figure to get it working properly so no change from XP then...
"Allchin stressed that Microsoft has broken new ground in Longhorn. For example, document icons are no longer a hint of the type of file, but rather a small picture of the file itself."
Is this some sort of joke? Gnome/KDE on Linux has been doing this for a while. There's nothing wrong with using ideas from other operating systems, but to copy them then claim your are innovating is indicitive of the arrogance of Microsoft.
Microsofts operating systems are simply too expensive. DOS used to cost £40. XP Pro costs £240. I am not upgrading anything until they get their costs down. I am rather tempted though to go for the highly impressive and rather cheaper Tiger.
Although Microsoft would dearly love you to believe that Longhorn is similar to Mac OS-X the truth is Microsoft's desperate attempt to mimic Apple's features in their vaporware, the similarity comes down to the brains driving these operating systems, and the similarity there is:
Mac OS-X = BSD
Longhorn = BSE
Windows after years as the viral OS, will one day change to the prion OS.
BSE = Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy or Mad Cow Disease & the prion is the cause of this brain wasting disease.
BSD = Berkeley Software Distribution