“Enterprise customers may go to 64-bit computing and Longhorn not so much for what they are as for what they aren’t. Count on it (because Microsoft is): Longhorn and 64-bit will sell because they aren’t Windows XP and 32-bit. They will sell not because they are loved or because they get people genuinely excited, but because they promise a measure of pain relief,” David Coursey writes for eWeek.

“Maybe Microsoft needs an ad campaign, ‘Don’t buy Longhorn because you like it, buy Longhorn because it’s good for you.’ Or perhaps a nostalgic campaign that likens Longhorn to cod liver oil, insect repellent and nasty-tasting cough syrup. That’s it: Longhorn—100 percent DEET for your data center! Features that IT departments like, including improvements in security, deployment and management, are what will sell Longhorn,” Coursey writes.

“It is, perhaps, to Microsoft’s credit that it is putting as many user features into Longhorn as it seems to be doing. There’s not much apparent today (wait until next year, I’m told, to see Longhorn all decked out) and what exists today looks shockingly like a Macintosh,” Coursey writes. “If you took the various ‘fixes’ out of the Longhorn and tried to sell it solely on new users and developer features, Microsoft would have to deliver much more than it’s shown so far. The Longhorn I am seeing here at WinHEC wouldn’t make the sale.”

Full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: Perhaps it’s shocking because Windows is like looking at an upside down and backwards Mac minus a logical user interface? So far, so bad for Microsoft’s Longhorn. How many will say “so long” to Windows and “hello” to Mac OS X over the next year and a half or so?

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