The whys, whats and whens of Vista
Published: 01 Aug 2005 13:25 BST
Microsoft has said that the operating system known for years as Longhorn would be called Windows Vista and that a beta version would be available by 3 August.
Then last Wednesday morning — a week ahead of schedule — the software giant said that the beta is ready to go.
In the four-year history of Longhorn it's arguably the first time Microsoft can claim to be ahead of schedule. Since first discussing Longhorn in 2001, Microsoft has changed the features of the release and pushed out its launch date several times. But there is little room for error now, as Microsoft is trying to have a final version ready by next year's Christmas buying season.
Microsoft's Jim Allchin, the group vice-president managing all Windows development work, spoke to ZDNet UK sister site CNET News.com about the beta release of Vista, its features and limitations, and hurdles remaining before the software's eventual launch.
Q: Microsoft today released the first public test version of Vista. What's the audience for this test release?
A: This beta isn't really for even tech enthusiasts. This beta is to test out some of the capabilities that we've got, if you will, in the plumbing. We've got the beginnings for the virtual folders, but really this is plumbing.
Most of the stuff that we would expect that tech enthusiasts and consumers will be interested in will happen at Beta 2. Beta 1 is not what I would call deeply interesting unless you are a real bithead. We did change the file directory space. I consider that to be a step up. It was more than getting rid of the word "My". [In Vista, the folder that was once "My Documents" will become simply "Documents," while "My Photos" will become "Photos", and so forth.] We are trying to simplify it and make it easier.
What are the next steps?
We'll be pushing ahead as fast as we can to get Beta 2 — no time on that yet. We'll get to the PDC [Microsoft's Professional Developers Conference, to be held in September] and we'll be handing out Beta 1 bits at the PDC, as well as whatever current build that we have at that time.
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6 comments
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As usual, think before you do and certainly before... Arthur B. -
There were a lot of words missed out in this... Myles -
I like the question about the on/off state of the... samuel, uk
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KDE for *nix has the 'restore session' functi... Anonymous
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The beta is pretty cool. It has some hef... Chris Nixon -
Did Jim Alchin REALLY say ....but also to allow ma... Anonymous
