Technical Beta Of Longhorn Windows With Aero, Avalon, Indigo Due At PDC In Fall

Now that Windows Server 2003 is out the door, Microsoft has turned its attention to the development of its next Windows client, code-named Longhorn.

The software giant's next Windows upgrade, due in 2005, will feature a redesigned 3-D-capable user interface, code-named Aero, and a new toolbox/services stack code-named Avalon that will power the new GUI. Windows server 2003 shipped on April 24.

Longhorn also will feature the new WinFS file system, enhanced security and peer-to-peer (P2P) features, collaboration functionality and integrated IP telephony, as well as fewer and better organized APIs. The operating system will run on Intel and Advanced Micro Devices 32-bit and 64-bit processors.

The Aero interface, combined with enhanced P2P networking and realtime collaboration, will better exploit the unused processing power available on Intel Pentium 4-based networks, sources said.

"You can expect features that would make it a better consumer of some services that Microsoft has added to Windows Server this year, such as realtime communications with Greenwich, Windows SharePoint Server and digital rights management," said one ISV.

Several alpha-test versions of Longhorn have slipped out to the Internet--among them the most recent version, called Milestone 5. Microsoft plans to debut a technical beta of Longhorn for developers at its Professional Developer's Conference this fall.

The Avalon toolbox, which will replace the current graphics device interface (GDI), is expected to be a major productivity gain for ISVs and developers, sources said.

The Longhorn compilers, for instance, will use XML script files to create user-interface functions with a few lines of XML code that before would have required hundreds, if not thousands, of lines of C# coding. And the Longhorn software developer kit, which is also due out this fall, will come with prebuilt XML Application Markup Language (XAML) schemas for many UI functions, said sources briefed on Longhorn.

The new OS' file system, dubbed WinFS, will replace the current hierarchical file manager, which organizes by folders, subfolders and files, the sources said. The WinFS model will be supported by Microsoft's next-generation SQL Server database, code-named Yukon, and will enable users for the first time to group and view objects by user-defined criteria. Developers will be able to manipulate the objects by XAML or C# code.

Microsoft is looking to prevent Linux from gaining ground on the desktop, said several sources briefed on Longhorn. As a result, the company will open up the API set and hooks to developers, who can then use WinFS to rewrite applications so they behave like Microsoft applications or inherit Microsoft's OS functions.

"It's hard to use the [Windows] shell now for an application," said a source familiar with the Longhorn plans. "Anything a shell can do, an application can do. So now a Windows application can inherit the behavior of the operating system with zero lines of code."

Longhorn also will incorporate a distributed application layer, code-named Indigo, that will handle Web services and network-based computing. It will offer services for federated identity management and message queue management, sources said.

Microsoft also plans to reduce the number of APIs in the Win32 API stack to about 8,000 from more than 70,000. The vendor also intends to organize those APIs into logical sets and make them available by the Common Run-Time Languages, including Visual Basic and C#. Longhorn, however, will allow developers to program and modify standard XAML scripts so they won't have to access the more complex API set.

Reducing the number and complexity of the APIs and offering WinFS services to better exploit the Windows shell will be major benefits to ISVs and solution providers, sources said.

And there's another implication, one solution provider said. "Fewer APIs means there are fewer places for worms and viruses to find access," he noted. "This is a very important consideration."

At the Windows Hardware Engineering (WinHEC) conference in New Orleans this week, Microsoft Chairman and Chief Software Architect Bill Gates said the Next Generation Secure Computing Base (NGSCB) technology, formerly code-named Palladium, will be included in Longhorn.

The technology, which will be a subset of Windows, will provide new kinds of security and privacy protections--including enhanced virus protection and protection against identity fraud--and will allow users to keep data secure while working across corporate boundaries, Gates said.

The NGSCB beta software developer kit will be made available at the same time as the release of the beta version of Longhorn. The goal is to deliver NGSCB-ready desktops, laptops and workstations in sync with the Longhorn release, other Microsoft executives said this week.