Longhorn: If they build it, will anyone come?
Published: 01 Apr 2005 18:10 BST
"We know pretty much definitively that Longhorn is the next version of the Windows client," Gartenberg said. "Everything else goes downhill from there."
Things should become clearer next month when Microsoft offers an updated preview version of Longhorn at WinHEC, its Windows Hardware Engineering Conference, in Seattle. A more full-featured beta version has been promised by June.
What if you released an OS and no one came?
A lot has changed since Windows XP debuted in 2001. Wireless networking has become much more common, as have devices with Bluetooth. USB flash drives and other portable storage devices have essentially replaced the floppy disk, but they've brought along unique security issues.
Still, analysts say Windows XP has aged well, particularly with the Service Pack 2 upgrade that debuted last year and the Tablet and Media Centre editions that have seen several updates in recent years.
"I don't hear anyone saying 'I've got to have Longhorn tomorrow,'" said Yankee Group analyst Laura DiDio.
Of course, a lot of that may have to do with the fact that Microsoft has been very quiet in recent months. Some details about Longhorn have emerged, but they shed only a modest amount of light on what Microsoft will use as the key selling points for its operating system.
At its lowest level, Microsoft is building Longhorn using the same code as Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1, which lets the software maker take advantage of the security enhancements it made with Windows XP Service Pack 2 — as well as the added support for 64-bit chips the company will debut next month, coincident with the release of SP1.
Microsoft has previewed two of the key technologies it has planned for Longhorn: its Avalon presentation engine and Indigo, its Web services architecture. Indigo is designed to let programs share data more easily, while Avalon should pave the way for programs that are more visually appealing . But most of the software that will take advantage of the technologies is not likely to arrive until sometime after Longhorn.
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