Microsoft Will Ship Longhorn in 2006

[JK47]

http://winsupersite.com/showcase/longhorn_preview_2004.asp

let the bashing begin...

[Barto]

Wow. It looks like Microsoft hasn't actually made ANY progress on Longhorn and is starting again on a smaller project.

[staph]

I for one am finding the logic of backporting Avalon and WinFX… interesting.

[_Ω_]

Longhorn will ship in 2006, Microsoft says. But it won't just ship in 2006: It will be "broadly available" in 2006. That means that Longhorn will be available in early 2006, not in the waning days of that year

Wonder if this is true???

But I think it's important to keep one thing in perspective: Longhorn will still be a major Windows release, on both the client and the server, and with recent improvements to Mac OS X and Linux doing little to nip away at XP's technological and usability leads, Longhorn will likely still stand at the apex of personal computing when its ships. Put succinctly, though the kitchen sink approach is gone, Longhorn remains the OS technology to watch.

Keeping it "real" as always.


:lol:

[scratt]

"But I think it's important to keep one thing in perspective: Longhorn will still be a major Windows release, on both the client and the server, and with recent improvements to Mac OS X and Linux doing little to nip away at XP's technological and usability leads, Longhorn will likely still stand at the apex of personal computing when its ships. Put succinctly, though the kitchen sink approach is gone, Longhorn remains the OS technology to watch."

I thought that the majority of serious PC users avoid XP like the plague.

I know that I have de-installed every copy of XP I ever installed on a PC and have gone back to 98 or 2000 in every case because XP is such a mess.

I found that an interesting article but have to say the final comments left me wondering about the sanity of the author!

scratt

[Barto]

You are obviously unfamiliar with Paul Thurrott. He's in the same league as Rob Enderle (and John Dvorak before Steve brainwashed him with a concentrated RDF).

Apart from the Mac bashing, the article is very informative.

Barto

[scratt]

You are obviously unfamiliar with Paul Thurrott. He's in the same league as Rob Enderle (and John Dvorak before Steve brainwashed him with a concentrated RDF).

Apart from the Mac bashing, the article is very informative.

Barto

Thanks for the heads-up.

It was just so bizarre to read what is such a well put together article with this gloriously fatuous comment at the end!! :lol:

It was a bit like a major politition delivering a World-Peace speach and then smacking one of the deligates in the mouth!

I now know to watch out for his obviously M$ sponsored comments and not allow them to get under my skin!

cheers,
scratt

[DMBand0026]

Longhorn is teh r0x3r!!one!11!!

I can see the geeks salivating now, until they install it and realize that it is a beast of an OS that takes up more resources than it's worth. What was the latest spec I heard...1GB of RAM and a dual core chip. Good luck with that, Intel won't even have a dual core chip shipped till 2008, than again, that's probably when longhorn will finally come out.

It's funny to see how far behind Microsoft is, and seeing them scrambling to catch up is even funnier. And knowing that they keep chopping features off of longhorn to get it out sooner, they might as well just give everyone XP SP 3. Cause we all know it needs it.

[torifile]

I usually avoid arstechnica like the plague but I just read this thread (http://episteme.arstechnica.com/eve/ubb.x?a=dl&s=50009562&f=174096756&x_id=1093700233&x_subject=Microsoft+says+Longhorn+to+ship+in+2006% 2C+delays+WinFS&x_link=http://arstechnica.com&x_ddp=Y). It was interesting to see what smart geeks (not just geeky fanboys like Thurrott) think about Longhorn. Interesting read.

[Moogs]

Oooo. 2006.

By that time they might've caught up with Jaguar. Meanwhile, Tiger will be old news and Mac users will be talking about the latest OS Preview on Apple's OS page. OS XI maybe.

[BenRoethig]

Yeah, we'll be on sabretooth or something by then.

[windowsblowsass]

Yeah, we'll be on sabretooth or something by then.
no no no 10.5 electric zebra

[DMBand0026]

no no no 10.5 electric zebra

So Zebras are cats now? :err: :\ :|

[Brad]

I usually avoid arstechnica like the plague...Really? :confused: I've always found ArsTechnica's articles to be very well balanced and extremely informative. John Siracusa's OSX articles, for example, rank very high on my "good online writing" meter. Granted, if you were referring to the forums that you avoid like the plague, I can certainly understand that. :)

Anyhow, contrary to scratt's above comments, I find that many more old-hat PC folk are choosing to use XP these days. Especially with the recent security additions in SP2, XP has become a very capable OS. Aside from obstinacy or having really old hardware, there's not much reason for people to actively shy away from XP.

I also don't agree with the zealotry about how Windows of 200X will just be catching up the Mac OS X of Z years prior. I mean, get real, folks. If Mac OS X was that much better than any of the current Windows offerings, would Apple still be facing shrinking market shares? Would Apple have fallen to the third most used operating system, now outpaced by that interface hell called Linux? :rolleyes:

*walks away grumbling to self*

[Moogs]

You guys don't like the Ars fora? I know the BF stuff is ridiculous but otherwise pretty useful when needing technical advice and commentary IMO.

[torifile]

You guys don't like the Ars fora? I know the BF stuff is ridiculous but otherwise pretty useful when needing technical advice and commentary IMO.
I find ars too technical for my liking. Often they'll nitpick and point out things that I'd rather not have to think about. Don't get me wrong, I find their articles extremely informative (their high contrast pages my eyes could do without, though) and I think a lot of their posters know way more than I do about all things technical. It's just a hostile environment, that's all.

Anyway, reading through that thread shows that with the removal of WinFS from Longhorn and the promise of SPs to XP to add Avalon, they seem to be less than enthusiastic about Longhorn. It was also nice to see bona fide geeks talking about OS X in glowing terms. Just think: without OS X, the Mac OS wouldn't even come up in discussions over there. It's a nice position to be in.

[Chinney]

[...]

I also don't agree with the zealotry about how Windows of 200X will just be catching up the Mac OS X of Z years prior. I mean, get real, folks. If Mac OS X was that much better than any of the current Windows offerings, would Apple still be facing shrinking market shares? Would Apple have fallen to the third most used operating system, now outpaced by that interface hell called Linux? :rolleyes:

*walks away grumbling to self*

XP is ok, but OS X is a fair bit better, in my opinion. I think that Apple has won the OS quality wars over the last little while, and looks likely to continue to win for the forseealbe future. Apple's small market share can be traced to many other reasons, not failure to have the better OS.

[LudwigVan]

So Zebras are cats now? :err: :\ :|

No. Think back to Phil's demo at WWDC...

[Cybermonkey]

Really? :confused: I've always found ArsTechnica's articles to be very well balanced and extremely informative. John Siracusa's OSX articles, for example, rank very high on my "good online writing" meter. Granted, if you were referring to the forums that you avoid like the plague, I can certainly understand that. :)

Anyhow, contrary to scratt's above comments, I find that many more old-hat PC folk are choosing to use XP these days. Especially with the recent security additions in SP2, XP has become a very capable OS. Aside from obstinacy or having really old hardware, there's not much reason for people to actively shy away from XP.

I also don't agree with the zealotry about how Windows of 200X will just be catching up the Mac OS X of Z years prior. I mean, get real, folks. If Mac OS X was that much better than any of the current Windows offerings, would Apple still be facing shrinking market shares? Would Apple have fallen to the third most used operating system, now outpaced by that interface hell called Linux? :rolleyes:

*walks away grumbling to self*

Interface hell called linux? linux is a separate entity to the WM's :D Dont blame the OS blame the programmers :smokey:

[dfj225]

I thought that the majority of serious PC users avoid XP like the plague.

scratt

IMHO, XP is the best MS operating system. It is stable and pretty fast on modern hardware. I have never had any problems with it (virus or otherwise). In comparison to OS X, I think XP is lacking some areas. However, I think Longhorn will have some very intersting features. I think Avalon is shaping up to be pretty neat even though a 3d rendered desktop has been in OS X for some time.

In comparison to Longhorn though, I wish Apple would delay Tiger to add more revolutionary features. Fast searching is pretty neat, but honesty it has been around for some time. For example, open the terminal and type locate <searchText> and see what happens. Pretty fast huh? They only thing Apple is doing is really adding a unified GUI to the fast searching. I really wish Apple would take more adavantage of their 3D desktop. Avalon is doing some neat stuff with a 3D desktop, but to see the real potential of a 3D desktop check out Project Looking Glass (http://wwws.sun.com/software/looking_glass/). Since Apple already has the framework in place, I really wish they would impliment something like this..the possibilities are endless.

[scratt]

I really wish Apple would take more adavantage of their 3D desktop. Avalon is doing some neat stuff with a 3D desktop, but to see the real potential of a 3D desktop check out Project Looking Glass (http://wwws.sun.com/software/looking_glass/). Since Apple already has the framework in place, I really wish they would impliment something like this..the possibilities are endless.

That is quite yummy isn't it!

Anyhow, contrary to scratt's above comments, I find that many more old-hat PC folk are choosing to use XP these days. Especially with the recent security additions in SP2, XP has become a very capable OS. Aside from obstinacy or having really old hardware, there's not much reason for people to actively shy away from XP.

I really wouldn't know if more old-hat PC folk are changing to XP. I expect that eventually everyone will migrate, just as the die hard OS9 users are having to on the Mac. That is not necesarily because they want to though, and the same is the case with XP I expect. But to say that XP is more stable and safer after the SP2 update, whilst technically true (as far as we know) is misleading because we all know there are several know issues that have not been addressed and a whole host of new incompatibility problems and usability issues..

I do know that for serious installations which use Microsoft software most IT managers are trying to stay with 2000 and 98 (in some cases) for as long as they can. 98 is the only system that has not been affected by the most serious recent virus attacks and is attractive for that reason alone.

When I had an internet cafe running out of a Bar / Cafe I owned last year I installed 98 on everything and was quite happy to put up with it's 'dated-ness' and everytime the other internet cafes (running XP) went down, crashed or had virus attacks I was busier than I could handle!!

With regard to Longhorn... there are some quite prophetic 'pirate' copies at our local computer den of iniquity in Bangkok. Some enterprising individual has rebranded XP with a new desktop and a photocopied box with 'Longhorn' written accross it and is selling copies of XP with the SP2 update... Let's face it... at the end of the day that is what Longhorn is gonna be!! :lol:

scratt

[JK47]

Well, at best Microsoft will release Longhorn in Febuary 06'. So, if Apple continues to follow its new 18-month update schedule, we will have Tiger's successor shipping within 8 months of Longhorn's release. Any graphical edge that Longhorn will over Tiger will most likely be surpassed by 10.5 less than a year after Longhorn's release.

[torifile]

Well, at best Microsoft will release Longhorn in Febuary 06'. So, if Apple continues to follow its new 18-month update schedule, we will have Tiger's successor shipping within 8 months of Longhorn's release. Any graphical edge that Longhorn will over Tiger will most likely be surpassed by 10.5 less than a year after Longhorn's release.
The thread I linked to over at ars has people wondering out loud (PC and Mac zealots alike) what Longhorn IS exactly without WinFS, Avalon and Indigo. I've got to wonder the same thing. What graphical advantage would we be talking about if Avalon (which I'm not too impressed with, BTW) is separated from Longhorn?

What IS Longhorn going to be?

[Moogs]

I for one, good sir, couldn't care less. Whatever it is, it won't be better than what's running on my Mac right now in 2004... and that's all that matters. :)

[Brad]

What IS Longhorn going to be?Copland? ;)

That's what it is starting to sound like.

Very ambitious, very big project? Check.
Many years in development? Check.
Scaling back features that aren't on schedule? Check.
Gutting features and putting them into current OS releases? Check.

:p

[scratt]

Copland? ;)

That's what it is starting to sound like.

Very ambitious, very big project? Check.
Many years in development? Check.
Scaling back features that aren't on schedule? Check.
Gutting features and putting them into current OS releases? Check.

:p

Yup, that sounds about right to me.

[dfj225]

That is quite yummy isn't it!

scratt

It does look very interesting and I really am dissapointed that Apple hasn't shown off similar abilities. I mean it seems like they went a long way to develop a very futuristic windowing system in terms of how it handles the low level rendering, but all for what? Expose is great, but it really isn't a 3D effect and the genie effect looks nice but it doesn't add any function to the OS. I really hope Apple has something like Project Looking Glass up its sleeve and it just waiting for a more stable build before they show it off. Right now, Tiger doesn't really seem like it is going to be something that really excites me. The only feature I would probably ever use is the new search feature. Currently I don't search for files on my computer very often and I don't think Tiger is going to change that, so it seems lacking from my point of view. Here's to hoping that Apple doesn't dissapoint!