“After months of keeping its prized cow in the barn, Microsoft is beginning to let Longhorn out of the corral for public viewing,” Ina Fried reports for ZDNet India. “Beginning with brief demonstrations to reporters this week, the software maker is starting to shed light on just what the next version of Windows will offer when it hits the market next year. High on the list of features are security enhancements, improved desktop searching and organizing, and better methods for laptops to roam from one network to another. ‘This is going to be a big deal,’ Jim Allchin, Microsoft group vice president, said.”
MacDailyNews Take: Oh yeah, a “big deal,” unless you bought a Mac five years ago.
“In a brief demonstration, Allchin showed off several key features that make the new OS stand out from prior versions. A ‘quick search pane,’ for example, allows users to type queries and instantly see matching files,” Fried reports. “In both look and form, the search mechanism is similar to the Spotlight feature in Apple Computer’s Mac OS X Tiger, which goes on sale later this month. Search results can be saved as virtual folders that are automatically updated to include all items that fit a particular query… Documents, pictures, music and even applications can also be given a rating or keywords to add further criteria for searching. But while the OS bears plenty of similarities to Tiger, Allchin stressed that Microsoft has broken new ground in Longhorn. For example, document icons are no longer a hint of the type of file, but rather a small picture of the file itself.”
MacDailyNews Take: No wonder Microsoft keeps the MacBU around. Prerelease copies of Mac OS X! Yaaay, Pepto for everyone!
“The company is still shooting for an initial beta around midyear, though it could be July, as the new official schedule is “early summer.” A second beta is planned, though no final date has been given, with the goal of having the OS broadly available on PCs by next year’s holiday season,” Fried reports. “Microsoft talked fairly early about Longhorn, with company Chairman Bill Gates first demonstrating it at a developer conference in October 2003. At the time, the company focused largely on the ‘under the hood’ features of the OS–in particular, a new file system, Web services architecture and the presentation system. Since then, Microsoft has significantly reshaped the OS. Last year, the company announced that it would pull out the new file system and that the Web services and presentation pieces would also be made available for Windows XP.”
MacDailyNews Take: “Significantly reshaped?” Stripped down is more like it. Hey, if parts of this thing can be bolted onto Windows XP, how innovative can it really be? We’re sure it’ll all work fine for the user.
“Allchin said his priority is making sure Longhorn meets quality standards, followed by getting the product out on schedule. Packing it full of features is a third priority, and the one most likely to give. As a result, Microsoft would delay Longhorn over quality concerns, but is unlikely to let individual features hold up its release. That could mean some further trimming around the edges if things fall behind,” Fried reports.
MacDailyNews Take: It must be easy to meet quality standards when you have none. While crediting the late Johnny Cochran, or not, Microsoft’s mantra these days is simple: “If it doesn’t ship, we must strip.”
“With Longhorn, Microsoft isn’t focusing as much on building in antivirus software as it is changing the behaviors that leave computer systems vulnerable to attack. For example, most computers today are run in administrator mode, making it easy to add new programs and make other changes, but also allowing major fundamental changes to a computer to be made by malicious software,” Fried reports. “With Longhorn, Microsoft is trying to change that so a computer runs with the least possible permission level.”
MacDailyNews Take: Hmmm, now where the heck have we seen that before?
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: If people can’t figure it out what’s going on this time, they never will. You can see Windows ‘Longhorn’ today in Apple Mac OS X Beta, released September 2000, or just keep waiting and waiting and waiting for the unreal thing. Moo.
Related MacDailyNews articles:
Analyst: ‘Microsoft’s Longhorn is going to have hard time upstaging Apple’s Mac OS X Tiger’ – April 13, 2005
Analyst: Apple in ‘position to exploit Microsoft missteps, claim leadership’ with Mac OS X Tiger – April 13, 2005
Apple’s Schiller: Mac OS X Tiger ‘has created even more distance between us and Microsoft’ – April 13, 2005
Will Mac OS X Tiger add fuel to Apple’s recent momentum in the computer business? – April 13, 2005
Why doesn’t Apple advertise Mac OS X on TV? – April 12, 2005
Analyst: Tiger proves ‘Apple is light years ahead of Microsoft in developing PC operating systems’ – April 12, 2005
Apple to ship Mac OS X ‘Tiger’ on Friday, April 29; pre-orders start today – April 12, 2005
Apple Announces Mac OS X Server ‘Tiger’ to ship Friday, April 29 with 64-bit application support – April 12, 2005
Analysts: Apple’s new Tiger operating system could really impact Mac sales – April 12, 2005
Piper Jaffray raises Apple estimates on Mac OS X ‘Tiger’ release news – April 12, 2005
Apple’s Mac OS X ‘Tiger’ vs. Microsoft’s Windows ‘Longhorn’ – March 31, 2005
New Microsoft Longhorn chief was former Pepto-Bismol brand manager – March 18, 2005
Microsoft’s Longhorn fantasy vs. Apple’s Mac OS X reality – September 14, 2004
Is Microsoft’s stripped-down ‘Longhorn’ worth waiting for? – September 10, 2004
Silicon Valley: Apple CEO Steve Jobs previews ‘Longhorn’ – June 29, 2004
PC Magazine: Microsoft ‘Longhorn’ preview shows ‘an Apple look’ – May 06, 2004
Microsoft concerned that Longhorn’s look and feel will be copied if revealed too soon – August 25, 2003
Windows ‘Longhorn’ to add translucent windows that ripple and shrink by 2005 – May 19, 2003
Earlier Longhorn articles stated that many of today’s Windows PCs would not be able to run Longhorn effectively, and that the introduction of the new OS would require wholesale hardware replacement in many cases.
IF the introduction of Longhorn will force users to purchase new hardware, this will be another opportunty for Apple to increase sales.
End users will be saying to themselves…. “Hmmmmmm – If I will need new hardware anyway to use Longhorn, maybe I’ll give the Mac a try.”
All and all, the majority of people will still herd to the cow… The opertunity is that the hardware requirement would require a new PC… We have to make it perfectly clear that there are choices… to move to the Mac, and a better life with less stress.
IMHO
Jb
“Allchin said his priority is making sure Longhorn meets quality standards, followed by getting the product out on schedule.”
Um, I think it’s a little late for that second objective. Longhorn is already behind schedule by years. Oh, he meant the “new” schedule. Right. A project is never behind schedule if you keep changing the schedule.
They can copy all the features of OSX all they want – but it will still be pushy, do it this way, Windows, lacking style, friendliness and probably reliability too.
Its MS’s curse to be so big and Apple’s great opportunity to be so unique.
“With Longhorn, Microsoft is trying to change that so a computer runs with the least possible permission level.”
Good luck with that. I worked in the IT department of a major Canadian bank which tried to lock down the desktops when they migrated to Windows 2000. They ended up having to give most users full admin rights because too many applications just weren’t multi-user aware and would not run properly if the user did not have admin privileges.
Oh man, it’s going to be fun to watch a large corporation with hundreds of legacy apps try to roll out Longhorn. Stuff is going to break really bad.
The old Byte magazine said it best over 10 years ago…
If you want to see what the average PC will be like in 10 years look at a Macintosh today.
How hard can it be for a company with more resources than most countries to produce an OS that has legitimate permissions, protected memory, and a lack of sloppy code that allows buffer overflows, etc.?
It’s clear to me that Windows is too big in the market to do a wholesale change under the hood. There is no way that they could do an upgrade like OS X, retain a classic environment, and still maintain their market share. People will bail faster than Wall Street did this week from AAPL. They must keep the KoolAid flowing.
C’mon, if Apple can do it, MS surely can. They just don’t want to .
MacDailyNews Take: “No wonder Microsoft keeps the MacBU around. Prerelease copies of Mac OS X! Yaaay, Pepto for everyone!”
Awww, shit – just spit coffee all over my keyboard again! Damn you, MDN, that’s the second keyboard this month!
“Allchin stressed that Microsoft has broken new ground in Longhorn. For example, document icons are no longer a hint of the type of file, but rather a small picture of the file itself.”
Wait a minute where have I heard of that before… Oh yeah! That features is available in Linux! So Microtrash is now stealing ideas from both of its rivals, Mac OS and Linux. What next Be?
HOW ON EARTH CAN A ‘SECURITY ENHANCEMENT’ BE A BIG DEAL????
For christs sake – if thats all thats in shortporn then people will NOT upgrade to it – period.
It makes me laugh what Microsoft call ‘features’ and what Apple call ‘features’.
Why don’t Microsoft just call it service pack 3 and just admit it that they cannot write an operating system!
Steve Jobs would sack everyone in OS development if after 3 years of working on an OS update all they came up with was ‘security enhancements’!!
This just proves how Microsoft has lost the OS wars.
You would have thought that having 150 bollion in the bank that they would employ a few people who know how to program!
Can’t understand why you’re always knocking wronghorn, OSX beta wasn’t all that bad…
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mw: develop as in mOnkeyBoy
Microsoft is a knock-off outfit for the masses. Always has been. They have actually invented nothing, not even MS-DOS. They re-interpret for their platform, and undercut others on price. You may question whether this is ethical, but one thing is beyond refute: it’s profitable as hell.
Windows users will be waiting until the cows come home
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I am continually amazed that Allchin still has a job at Microsoft. This guy essentially perjured himself in court by using a faked demo. I guess he typifies the ethics of the company that thinks getting away with something is ok so long as you pay off the aggrieved parties with discounted ‘settlements’. I’m not surprised they will try and re-write history by claiming all kinds of innovations when blowhorn is released.
DD
Microsoft is going through the same trouble that Apple had in the second half of the 90’s. Apple got themselves twisted up during the OS 8 and 9 years trying to get what would eventually be OS X together. There were lots of folks that saw OS X and said “too little – too late”.
The big difference is that OS X didn’t need to succeed on the same level that Longhorn wil. OS X had those first couple of years for folks to learn about it, try it out in store and with friends, hear about the quirks and troubles of 10.1 and how they got resolved with 10.2, save up some cash, and finally pay for a new computer.
Microsoft doesn’t have that luxury. If Longhorn doesn’t make a big splash within the first year, the industry is going to be PO’d with them. The PC manufacturers want this to sell units, and if it doesn’t, they’re going to start offering cheaper units with XP just to make sales.
Think about the number of people (of percentage of user-base, rather) still using Win 98 or 2000 vs. the mac users with OS 9. That’s what Microsoft is going to be fighting against. People using an old Microsoft OS aren’t usually as eager to upgrade. (Although Microsoft might be counting on these folks being the ones that will buy Longhorn (Longodds).
beatsme,
How can you think Microsoft undercuts others on price? Have you ever bought a copy of a Windows OS? Have you ever bought a copy of MS Office? Every other OS and office productivity package out there is way cheaper. Microsoft does not undercut anyone on price.
Allchin is the biggest BS’er around….the guy exemplifies everything wrong with Microsoft marketing and the total disconnect with reality.
But that’s okay….let him continue promoting features that will be old, old hat by the time Longhorn sees light of day. It’s like watching a clown beat himself up – quite funny, in a pathetic sort of way.
Microsoft obviously has a pre-release of Tiger which is how they unveil some of their “new” (read copied from Apple) features.
That the Mac community never grows. You guys are a bunch of whiny bitches. Keep it up. Longhorn wont look,feel, act or even remotely resemble any thing like apple’s little “Pussy” OS.
Should this site be called Microsoft Daily News?\
Oh and Al. Cut the crap about the OS Pricing. YOU make up for it 10 fold in Hardware costs.
Apple Mac G5 DLC with 30 inch Display and software – $15,000 dollars
AMD AthlonFX Dual Core with 30 inch display and software – 8,000 Dollars
Seeing the Mac community whine about longhorn copying “Tiger” – Priceless
There as some things people cant buy, for everything else, there is Microshaft.
Get Real. We see how much you guys are complaining when MS Sells more copies of longhorn in 2 weeks than Appls does tiger in a year…
Not Moo — MOOF.
re: Its no wonder
Go back to your unsecure, bloated, infected and dated OS.
Come back when you have lost all your precious family photos on your windows pc because of a microsoft ‘update’.
THEN you will truely understand why we use macs!
re: Its no wonder
At least Apple ALWAYS delivers what it promises AND delivers on time!
Microsoft is just vapourware – face it – they cannot deliver what they promise adn never have done.
By the way – I am a mac and windows user with over 14 years experience of Microsoft’s bullshit.
Huh? top of the line G5 with 30″ Apple LCD is $6K. Who needs $9,000 worth of software?
It’s not a crappy peecee LCD either.
OMG, he calls a *nix variant OS a “Pussy” OS.
some kids still have to learn a lot.
Yeah, It shows Flare…Apple Delivers on time? Hmm whatever…Ive been using both just as long as you have. And Im tired of Apples BS in regards to support and ripping me off on hardware. Oh and I cant forget the HYPE. Nothing has amazed me more than Apples OverHype on ALL of the products they sell. Most are Dud’s. Whats really sad is all of you people buy into it…Its like buying a BMW and finding out it was made by MS. Wait a minute, all BMW’s ARE made using Windows..And so are about 75 % of ALL cars made. I guess windows is worth SOMETHING then. Hmm Most Homes are built using Windows, Most factories use windows for production, most Retail Co’s use Windows for CRM. So whats left? Artists? Graphic designers and mostly 80’s Euro trash use macs. Face it, You’re out numbered, And what happens when you corner someone? They make excuses. hows is that working out for you? making excuses?
Have fun with your 15,000 dollar brick.
PS: Ive never lost a single file on windows, I havent had a virus since 95, maybe you have, but its not my fault your an incompetent PC User.
Cheers.
MW “Century” as in “Maybe this Century apple will have over 2% market share, Im guessing around…2095?”
PPS: If you really take these comments to heart and just feel absolutely Pissed about it, (Im guessing that your some 30 yr old guy with a nasty keyboard and a finger in your nose, maybe even a hand in the pants or something) Seek mental therapy immediately.