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Longhorn Preview

Posted by Zonk on from the i'm-ready-for-a-filet dept.

prostoalex writes "News.com has up a preview of Microsoft's current build of Longhorn operating system, from Jim Allchin, Microsoft group vice president. The timing is not coincidental with Apple's Tiger release, as Allchin pointed out some advantages that Microsoft had over Apple's OS: 'High on the list of features are security enhancements, improved desktop searching and organizing, and better methods for laptops to roam from one network to another.'" Update: 04/15 21:24 GMT by Z : Thomashawk wrote in to provide links to less formal looks at the Allchin preview, one at his site, and one at Evan William's site.

6 of 605 comments (clear)

  1. some advantages that Microsoft has over Apple's OS by deuist · · Score: 0, Redundant
    High on the list of features are security enhancements, improved desktop searching and organizing, and better methods for laptops to roam from one network to another.

    None of which we'll see until 2006.

  2. Deja vu? by TripMaster+Monkey · · Score: 0, Redundant

    From the article:

    ...document icons are no longer a hint of the type of file, but rather a small picture of the file itself. The icon for a Word document, for example, is a tiny iteration of the first page of the file.


    I'm not trying to be an anti-Microsoft troll here...honest, I'm not (look how I even refrained from referring to them as "M$"), but in all seriousness, hasn't Linux been doing this sort of thing for a while now?

    And yet, Microsoft peddles this as some sort of brand-new,major cutting-edge innovation.
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    ~ |rip/\/\aster /\/\onkey

  3. Do I Dare Say? by fwice · · Score: 1, Redundant

    In both look and form, the search mechanism is similar to the Spotlight feature in Apple Computer's Mac OS X Tiger...


    M$ Longhorn Strategy
    1) Develop Operating System
    2) Steal aspects of other operating systems
    3) ???????
    4) Profit!

  4. Intresting... by TerminaMorte · · Score: 0, Redundant

    ...document icons are no longer a hint of the type of file, but rather a small picture of the file itself

    My Ubuntu Linux system already does this.

    Video files in nautilus don't have a boring Xine icon, but show a frame of the movie.

    Picture icons show a thumbnail of the image.

    Text files... well that's really pointless. Text is too small.

    Nice to see Microsoft stealing from linux, and calling it inovation.

  5. How is this different from OS X? by Palal · · Score: 0, Redundant

    The icon for a Word document, for example, is a tiny iteration of the first page of the file. Folders, too, show glimpses of what's inside. Such images can be rather small, but they offer a visual cue that aids in the searching process, Allchin said.

    The second part is already implemented in XP.

    The first part is already a part of OS X.

    AND THIS IS NEW???

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    -Palal
  6. Re:Amazing! by Otter · · Score: 1, Redundant
    Both KDE and Gnome have had this feature for a good while.

    Yup, I've been turning that feature off in KDE since, what, 1998? (I think it originated in Konqueror, not KFM.)

    That sort of preview can be helpful for graphic files but I find it hard to see how it's useful for documents more than four words long.

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    What I'm listening to now on Pandora...