Lifting the lid on Longhorn
Published: 10 Nov 2003 11:20 GMT
Industry analysts say Microsoft needed to overhaul Windows to make its vision a reality. "What Microsoft has realised is that, to really blur the line between the Web and Windows further, they need to make underlying changes in how the plumbing is done," said Stephen O'Grady, an analyst at RedMonk.
One of the most significant changes in that plumbing is WinFX, Longhorn's programming interface, which represents an evolution of the .Net Framework software that's needed to run Web services applications. The XML programming model is separate from Windows and is not packaged with desktop systems, but WinFX will be integrated into Longhorn, according to Microsoft.
Once that happens, "it will be like Microsoft taking one hand from behind its back in its boxing match with Java companies," said Rob Helm, an analyst at Directions on Microsoft. "Potentially every PC will ship .Net-ready, which will make it much more interesting" for application developers, he added.
At Microsoft's developer conference, for example, Amazon.com showed how it has used the Avalon graphics technology and the WinFS file system in Longhorn to create an improved shopping site.
Amazon's chief technology officer, Allan Vermeulen, showed how a Web shopper can do a number of tasks that could not easily be done from within a browser, such as rapidly filtering search results for cameras and viewing a photo of a camera as a three-dimensional object. Information from the e-commerce site could also be easily shared with a person's calendar application.
While Microsoft's franchise rests largely on the desktop, its largest competitors -- such as Oracle, Sun Microsystems, IBM and BEA Systems -- use Java software that resides on network servers. In general, the Java system is built around consolidating information on a server through Web portal software and sending information to individual computers through a browser.
Such technology can be particularly useful for corporate customers who want to centralise applications for more control over software they use on PCs throughout their networks.
Sun Microsystems, a major proponent of server computing and a fierce critic of Microsoft, says it gives its employees "smart cards" that allow them to share stripped-down Sun Ray "ultra-thin client" machines that rely on servers for information storage and delivery. That technology, Sun says, cuts down on its administrative costs and can be used for a broader range of tasks.
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