Desktop platforms Toolkit

Lifting the lid on Longhorn

Martin LaMonica CNET News.com

Published: 10 Nov 2003 11:20 GMT

To counter such claims, Microsoft executives are touting the way Longhorn aims to simplify the use and maintenance of applications. Using a Longhorn feature that's called ClickOnce, a custom Windows application will get regular updates that are downloaded from a server much like a Web site publishes the most recent version of a page, said Eric Rudder, senior vice president of servers and tools.

Microsoft is also investing in a comprehensive plan called Dynamic Systems Initiative, which aims to give corporate customers more control over their systems.

Nevertheless, Microsoft may face an uphill battle in convincing customers that they need to spend more on a new OS at a time when many companies are cutting their technology budgets.

"Microsoft's concern is 'good enough,'" Helm said. "They are concerned that people are happy with their current desktops and stretch upgrade cycles out longer and longer. That opens a long-term threat from Linux."

And, regardless of Longhorn's features or benefits, Microsoft must overcome customer resistance to get locked in to any particular technology plan.

As Silver said, for companies that want to leave their options open, "they should be using tools and writing applications for generic browsers and not using features that are only going to be available on Windows."