What's Hot and What's Not in Longhorn?

NEW DELHI: According to a recent announcement made by Microsoft, its next version of Windows coined Longhorn will hit the shelves in 2006, after a series of delay.

Microsoft's CEO Steve Ballmer while speaking before the Massachusetts Software Council in Boston admitted that the company would be shipping a scaled down version Longhorn in order to meet the delivery date.

The first version of Longhorn will be devoid of the next-generation file system and storage technology, known as Windows FileSystem (WinFS), two most innovative features of the new Windows version. Ballmer bypassed an explanation for this but reiterated that developers can expect to see a whole lot of innovative features in Longhorn.

According to company sources 'WinFX' Microsoft's next-generation programming model and toolset will be a key component of Longhorn, giving developers access to the Avalon presentation layer and Indigo communication subsystem. With WinFX developers will be able to build applications that work with Windows XP.

Longhorn will include new graphics technology, code-named Avalon, to present advanced graphics effects and three-dimensional images and a revamped Web services system, code-named Indigo, to allow software and services to work across networks and different devices.

Microsoft plans to integrate 'WinFS' with a future release of Windows client and server.

While Microsoft has categorically said that this is an internal decision of the company, industry observers are of the opinion that Microsoft cannot afford further delays because it has roped many large corporate customers to sign long-term contracts that would give them the right to upgrade to the latest versions of the company's software, rather than pay for each available upgrade.

The Longhorn Server software for networked computers that handle data storage, file management and Web traffic, is slated for release in 2007.