Longhorn will be the most-secure versions of Windows ever, will be easier to use and manage, and will cost less to operate. It will sport impressive advances in how files are managed, organized, and displayed. And Microsoft's next-generation operating system shouldn't be delayed--it's on schedule to ship in the second half of 2006.
Now it's up to Microsoft's Windows development team to deliver on those promises, made this week by group VP Jim Allchin. The product update comes amid growing questions about what features will make it into Longhorn and why customers should feel compelled to plan for it.
Last August, Microsoft dropped one of Longhorn's most anticipated new features, the WinFS file system, and said it would retrofit two other Longhorn advances--the Indigo communications services and Avalon graphics system--to work within Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. In doing so, the company diminished Longhorn's gee-whiz factor, something it now needs to fix. "The question is how Longhorn can add value to this space and take it to the next level," Allchin says.
The answer: Longhorn will come with "unrivaled security and safety" and come packed with new features. Even without WinFS, Longhorn will let users stack, rearrange, filter, and create lists of PC files, including multimedia files and RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds. Improvements in data visualization will go beyond today's search capabilities, Allchin says.
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Building a Case for Longhorn
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