More Looks At Far-Off 'Longhorn'

b17bmbr writes "According to eWeek, the first builds are out, with an SDK. The Register notes: 'Microsoft builds leak regularly, Microsoft knows this, and Microsoft knows that the wider the distribution of the software, the faster it's going to spread all over the internet...The timing is impressive for an alpha build of a product that is not scheduled to hit the streets for another two years, and which could quite easily stretch to three.' Methinks this is just vaporware." And Cleverone writes "Several days before PDC 03' attendees will obtain their copy, screenshots of the new build have already made their way to the net. For those inquisitive few, the build stamp is 6.0.4051.0."

Comments

Where Could They Possibly Be Getting Their Ideas?

[anaesthetica]

I really like the toned-down brushed metal windows in place of the Playskool XP Theme. These are the kinds of innovations that are going to keep Windows ahead of the game in the long-run.

Quick Version Info

[Infernon]

Windows 2000 - Version 5.0
Windows XP - Version 5.1
Longhorn - Version 6.0

So it looks like Longhorn is actually a full version up. Not that I truly understand what any of that means. Anyone have a changelog? :)

Re:Quick Version Info

[tuba_dude]

Sure, it's right here:

JRH:
-Moved NSA backdoor from explorer.vb to kernel
-Just recieved payment from FBI, finishing touches on their backdoor.
-Looked at networking code from the 32-hour coding session, no security holes found yet.
TODO: Find more caffiene to hide with next time marketing comes to fire me.

BG:
-New easter egg in ie: "ALL YOUR MARKETSHARE ARE BELONG TO US"
TODO: Get a press relase out about security.

Marketing department:
Cleaned up the puke on the UI, left the corrosion patterns there.
TODO:
-Change codename to something less sucktacular.
-Fire JRH

Re:Quick Version Info

[Jugalator]

I have no idea what is supposed to merit a major version bump in longhorn, though; I guess the new GUI rendering engine?

No :-)

Actually, all Windows releases so far with a bump in the major version number *has* been very major indeed. Compare Windows 3.x to Windows 95 with its total change of desktop metaphors, going from icons representing file "links" only to real files, or Windows NT4 to Windows 2000 with enormous changes in the OS core.

Microsoft may bump a lot of version numbers for their software unnecessary, but I wouldn't say they're doing it with their operating systems. Windows XP only got a 0.1 bump since it is only a revised version of Windows 2000 after all.

Windows Longhorn will feature radical changes in the GUI, maybe making todays' Windows XP look like Windows 3.11 in comparison. It will also offer code restructures to use the .NET API and attempt to be even more secure than Windows 2003 Server by doing this. All .NET API procedures should for example automatically do basic things like bounds checks, which C++ code seldom does.

Windows Longhorn will also feature DRM built-in, which might have large implications for the user as well.

I personally think MS is putting a lot of eggs in one basket with Longhorn. If it's a failure, MS will be hit hard by it, but with the market dominance they have, they're probably sleeping well at night anyway.

Re:Quick Version Info

[bmajik]

i know you're being funny but i thought i'd chime in:

there is now (and has been for at least 3 years) the policy at MS that if you put an easter egg in MS software you should expect to be fired upon its discovery.

also, no one in marketing at MS is in a position to fire anyone working in a product group. i have never actually even met any marketing people at MS. I think i see them from time to time -- i'll see a bunch of dorks in nice looking clothes having a meeting, often with catered lunch, all staring blankly at a .ppt presentation -- but i've never dealt with any of them. Infact, the only real impact marketing has on product teams that i can tell is for naming stuff. I.e. longhorn is the code name for the future windows client. At some point, it will get renamed to something. Thats a decision that marketing is in on. Once the new name is decided, an email will go out to everyone that more or less says "marketing has said that the new name is x, please update all string resources to use the new name". For instance, late in the game Windows Server 2003 was changed to not include the ".NET" branding. Going over every place in the product (docs included) where someone had written down "Windows .NET Server" was required.

Also, product developers are not strictly/solely responsible for finding bugs. If a developer works 32 straight hours on a peice of code, its not up to that developer to own the correctness of the code - its up to the tester(s) assigned to that feature area. I've met at least one tester that would ask each of the developers he worked with (conversationally) how late they'd worked, and then would prioritize his testing for the day partially based on who had stayed up the latest or worked the longest hours. Finding a bug less then 12 hours old is incredibly helpful.

Finally, marketing has little to do with the UI in windows. Nobody in marketing (that i am aware of, anyway) has the right know how, much less access and tools, to modify the code that draws UI's in Windows. They may have input into how stuff works, but thats really more of a PM issue (program manager). PM's are typically very technically savvy (although often not with the depth you'd see from test or development), so they're closer to the JRH side then the Marketing side (usually)

Any screenshot mirrors?

[roumada]

Of course, the screenshots are /.ed already. A machine brought to its knees by Longhorn without even having it installed!

Uh...

[DrEldarion]

Methinks this is just vaporware.

Vaporware? You think the next version of Windows is vaporware? Somehow I don't think Microsoft is going to hype a new Windows version and then never come out with one. "Sorry! That project got killed! You'll have to stick with XP!"

-- Dr. Eldarion --

Screenshots

[ewithrow]

More screenshots can be found here.

Naming Scheme

[Anonymous Coward]

Good to see Microsoft is using there old naming scheme...

Windows 95
Windows 98
Windows 4051

Microsoft is in a tough spot with this one

[Crashmarik]

Theyr'e talking about a 2006 release for longhorn. Operating system updates have traditionally been nice cash cows for them. The same is true for office. Now, no one feels a pressing need to upgrade their office suites. Office 2003 is not very compelling. Anyone who sends me an encrypted document and expects me to spend nearly a grand so I can read is going to get a rude document back in plaintext.

So, they have their next upgrade is due in 2.5 years, their competitors are upgrading at an ever faster and regular pace (witness apple 4 upgrades in 2 years the latest being 64bit). It becomes a little bit obvious why they are leaking this.

The problem now is they will promise whatever they think the customer wants to hear at this point. When it comes time to ship they will need an OS that delivers features while still maintaining backward compatibility. Microsofts installed base has become the anchor around its neck. If they do big feature changes that obsolete products no one will upgrade, if they don't no one will upgrade.

OSS has the same problem when picking up new features but it doesn't have the same petty extortionists trying to sell the same thing all over again.

This gives us time.

[Adolph_Hitler]

This gives us linux developers time to add whatever improvements are made via longhorn into Linux so that by the time 2006 comes alone, Linux will already have all of the important features and plus its own improvements.

Re:Another chance for linux.

[AntiOrganic]

1. Improve every area of linux possible

Thanks for the insightful plan, buddy!

Re:Where Could They Possibly Be Getting Their Idea

[typhoonius]

Yes, they're always 10.3 steps ahead of the competition.