Microsoft will reveal more details of Longhorn, its next
version of Windows, at its Professional Developers Conference next
month, although anyone wanting to see more of the user interface,
codenamed Aero, will have to wait.
Aero may make a cameo appearance in Microsoft chairman Bill
Gates' opening keynote, but is not finished yet and is unlikely to
be included in the pre-beta release of Longhorn whichwill be handed
out to PDC attendees.
Perhaps more important to developers is that Microsoft will give
PDC attendees the scoop on Avalon, the little talked-about engine
underlying the Longhorn user interface.
Microsoft has described the technology as "a brand new client
platform for building smart, connected, media-rich applications in
Longhorn". Developers at the show will be told how to take
advantage of Avalon in their applications.
Thanks to Avalon, Longhorn will support new styles of user
interfaces and user interface elements. Developers will be able to
create Windows client applications using the type of navigation
features found on the web to browse through information.
Another key topic at PDC will be Windows Future Storage (WinFS),
a service that sits on top of the existing Windows file system and
is meant to make it simpler and more intuitive for users to find
files on computers running Longhorn.
WinFS uses technology from the Yukon release of Microsoft's SQL
Server database, which is expected to ship late next year.
Microsoft's PDC documentation describes WinFS as an "entirely
new user experience and model around the storage of user's data".
For example, Outlook address book data today is restricted to that
e-mail client. With WinFS, that data could be made available to all
applications on a PC.
However, applications will have to be rewritten to take
advantage of such capabilities. Microsoft will release a slew of
application upgrades at around the time Longhorn is released.
Jupiter Research senior analyst Joe Wilcox sees WinFS as the PDC
headliner because of the impact a new storage system is likely to
have on developers and businesses.
"Microsoft at PDC needs to show some significant development
progress on the new file system coming for Yukon and Longhorn.
Developers and businesses will need some time to prepare new
applications and, possibly, retrofit old ones to support the new
file system."
A lot of work remains to be done on WinFS. It works, and
developers can start developing applications for it, but it is
slow, fragile and many features are missing, a source familiar with
the development said.
Microsoft is working hard to finish the PDC version of Longhorn.
The goal is to meet "zero bug bounce", a stage where development
catches up to testing and there are no active bugs, at least for
the moment.
The operating system will be "about half done" when the PDC
rolls around, the source said. A Longhorn beta is planned for next
year.
Gates has said that Longhorn is "a big bet" for Microsoft and
that this next major release of Windows is "a bit scary" because
Microsoft is making some fundamental changes to its PC software.
Several thousand developers at Microsoft are working on the
product.
Other code-named products and technologies on the PDC agenda are
Indigo and Whidbey.
Indigo is Microsoft's new framework and programming model for
building connected applications and web services. Whidbey is the
next version of Microsoft's developer tool Visual Studio .net.
PDC takes place in Los Angeles and runs from 26 to 30
October.
Joris Evers writes for IDG News Service