Server platforms Toolkit

Will Longhorn be worth the pain?

Tags:
Longhorn

Cath Everett ZDNet.co.uk

Published: 18 Mar 2005 17:25 GMT

The Three Pillars of Longhorn

Avalon
Avalon is the code name for a variety of presentation class libraries that will be deployed as a common front end for all newly-developed Windows client applications, documents and graphics, which can be represented in either two or three dimensions.

It supports the XAML, which is similar in nature to XML and enables developers to compile code on the fly. It also means that user interfaces can be written separately from the underlying business logic.

Avalon will appear for use with Longhorn at the same time as the client version of the operating system in the second half of 2006 or slightly before, but will also now be made available as a download from Microsoft's Web site for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. The first Community Technology Preview was released last November and an update is due to appear this month.

Indigo
Indigo is the code name for a set of class libraries that provide the communications infrastructure to allow different .Net components to talk to each other. It combines support for Web services development; Microsoft's COM+ object model; MSMQ messaging; peer-to-peer communications, and .Net remoting (enabling client applications to use objects found in other processes) in one environment.

Indigo will appear for use with Longhorn at the same time as the client version of the operating system or slightly before, but will also now be made available as a download from Microsoft's Web site for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. The first Community Technology Preview was released earlier this month.

Avalon + Indigo = WinFX
Avalon and Indigo taken together comprise WinFX, Microsoft's new object-oriented application programming interface, which the vendor is positioning as a superset of the .Net framework.

WinFS
WinFS is the code name for a new unified Windows storage subsystem, which is intended to enable users to undertake searches based on the metadata of any stored item, no matter what type of file format it has or which type of application created it.

The technology was originally supposed to appear in the client version of Longhorn, but will now only be available in beta release in this timescale. It will also ship for Windows XP, but not for Windows Server 2003. This is consistent with former Microsoft announcements that there would delays to the server version of WinFS.

But as to what the technology will eventually look like in either client or server form is currently unclear as the vendor refuses to commit to firm details.

WinFS has been compared to the much-derided Cairo version of Windows, which was announced in 1992 and supposed to include a new user interface and Object File System data store to store files and documents in any format, but never made the light of day. The technology is expected to emerge in some form, however, although it currently appears to be somewhat of a moveable feast.