Microsoft Still Bets Longhorn Client Will Ship in 2005, Longhorn Server in 2006

As part of its long-term product roadmap revealed to partners at its annual channel show on Friday, Paul Flessner, senior vice president of Microsoft's Server Platform Division, recommitted to shipping the next generation Windows client, code-named Longhorn, in 2005.

The Longhorn Windows Server version will follow in 2006, although that could slip by as much as 18 months after the Longhorn client, Flessner said.

Powerpoint slides debuted by the company stipulated a 2005 ship date for the next Windows client, but some executives hinted delays are possible. Some analysts recently speculated that Longhorn client won't ship until 2006.

One executive also hinted at Momentum that the company plans "lightweight" version of business process orchestration services for the Windows platform in the Longhorn timeframe.

Additionally, Longhorn will be the first operating system that will support the System Definition Model (SDM) for system management, which is expected to reduce the total cost of ownership for a Windows server or Windows-based data center.

Even though the final products remain more than a year away, the company plans a major coming out party for Longhorn at its Professional Developers Conference later this month.

Sources say, for instance, Microsoft will hand over early code to developers -- the first software development kit for Longhorn -- at PDC. Beta 1 of Longhorn for mainstream corporate testing is due in 2004, executives said

"It's the biggest of all the waves we've ever done at Microsoft," said Sanjay Parthasaranthy, Corporate Vice President of Platform Strategy and Partner Group. "We're handing out Longhorn code to developers for the first time... we get to share the Longhorn wave in great detail.

Executives said the Longhorn platform will make it easier for corporations to deploy collaborative solutions, reduce the cost of the IT infrastructure and distribute 'smart' applications that that take advantage of web services.

Microsoft's high level goal with the Longhorn WinFS file system is to make it easier for users to visualize a variety of applications and data on their local area network and from the Internet in an integrated, seamless, view. For example, users will be able to view e-mail, database and files and documents and third party data from the same view.

Longhorn's distributed applications and web service layer, moreover, will connect together applications -- and people -- to get away from silos of applications that can't talk to one another, executives said. Microsoft also intends to make voice, video and data seamlessly integrated and to increase the platform service area or 'white space" on which third party ISVs can integrate media, real-time communications and video hooks in th Windows shell.

In the interim, Microsoft will release significant updates for the Windows client and server next year.

The Windows XP Service Pack 2 will offer new safety features in the first part of 2004 and the first update for Windows Server 2003, due in the second half of 2004, will offer new inspection features designed to protect the network perimeter and prevent infected laptops from docking into corporate networks.

Whole those releases are expected to address key security issues plaguing Microsoft, the Longhorn wave is considered the next major upgrade of the infrastructure.

Microsoft has not shipped a major upgrade to its Windows client since October of 2001. The Windows Server 2003 server shipped last spring.

The timing of the Longhorn release is considered significant because of Microsoft's licensing and legal issues.

Many expect IT spending to pick up by the time Longhorn ships, however, it's unclear how a potential Longhorn delay might impact those who signed Software Assurance contracts that include upgrade rights to Longhorn but which may expire before the OS ships. .

Additionally, others wonder if Microsoft may stall the Longhorn upgrade beyond the five-year expiration date of the antitrust consent decree, which dictates technical disclosures required by Microsoft to third-party software developers.

Microsoft has other plans besides pushing out Windows. The company plans to launch its Office System 2003 in 2003 and BizTalk 2004, and "Yukon" database wave in 2004. In 2005, a version 2.0 of Microsoft's Live Communications Server and a version 3.0 of SharePoint Portal Server are expected to ship in addition to the Longhorn client.

And further out in 2006, Microsoft plans to ship the next major Windows server along with the 'Kodiak' release of Exchange, "Acadia" version of SQL Server and first version of System Center, an integrated management platform composed of Systems Management Server and Microsoft Operations Manager, executives said.

Microsoft's aggressive product push at Momentum -- before a thinned out crowd on Friday -- coincides with the long running slowdown on tech spending.

Following the keynote, one solution provider in the audience said he expects Microsoft will continue to refine Longhorn to address what most CIOs and technology buyers really want from the Windows infrastructure.

"It's Microsoft's attempt to harness the costs of maintaining upgrades and security," said Doug Skinner, director of business development for International Network Services, Walnut Creek, Calif. "There are too many questions on the part of CIOs about how to manage and leverage what they've got.