Microsoft has said the next release of Windows will
still be worth the upgrade, even though Longhorn has been stripped
of its unified file system and some of its other key technologies
will be available for Windows XP and Windows Server
2003.
"There are a host of new attributes and capabilities that will
make Longhorn compelling," said Greg Sullivan, lead product manager
at Microsoft.
But Longhorn is no longer the "big bang" update Microsoft had
promoted. "We think that this approach is going to make it much
more of a stepwise path to Longhorn instead of a big leap," he
said.
Sullivan said Longhorn should be a better performing, more
stable and more secure operating system because it will be based on
the Windows Server 2003 SP1 (Service Pack 1) code base. Microsoft
will also include tools to ease desktop deployment, management and
diagnostics, making it simple to spot and fix problems.
Longhorn will offer a new user interface and improved desktop
search capabilities. "In 2006, if I am running Longhorn on my
machine and you're running XP with Avalon and Indigo on yours,
you're going to look at my machine, and you will want mine," he
said.
Avalon and Indigo are, respectively, the graphics and
communications subsystems Microsoft developed specifically for
Longhorn. Microsoft will now support Avalon and Indigo in Windows
XP and Windows Server 2003 as well.
As part of this move, Microsoft added support for the Longhorn
WinFX application programming model to the older Windows
versions.
"Microsoft is trying to establish technologies sooner for people
who aren't going to upgrade right away," said David Smith, senior
vice-resident and fellow at Gartner.
Developers adding support for the Longhorn technologies to
Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 will be able to use these
technologies to target a much larger installed base.
Longhorn will ship in 2006 but without WinFS (Windows File
System). Tapping SQL Server technology, WinFS promised to make it
easier for users to find related files, documents and e-mail
messages on their computers and corporate networks. Microsoft now
plans to deliver it as an update after the Longhorn release.
By cutting WinFS from Longhorn, Microsoft has again delayed the
Microsoft Business Framework, a new programming layer closely tied
to WinFS. MBF is intended to make it easier for developers to write
business applications for Windows by moving some base-level code
out of the applications they write and into the operating
system.
Joris Evers writes for IDG News Service