“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
Its no wonder — “95,000 Viruses? Where did that # come from?”
68,736 viruses for Windows as of January 2005.
Source: Symantec
He’s right, 67000 isnt 95000
Its a wonder:
Macs were used to design Cray computers.
PeeCees are typewriters and cash registers.
I’d ask you to cash in your life savings and buy a clue. But the way you fling inflated expense numbers around ($15K for a Mac/Display/software, wow), I’m sure you already blew your life savings on busfare.
Now go away.
Ah yes, Im going to Join the Troll.
Apple
• Dual 2.5GHz PowerPC G5
• 4GB DDR400 SDRAM (PC3200) – 4x1GB
• 2x250GB Serial ATA – 7200rpm
• NVIDIA GeForce 6800 Ultra DDL
• Apple Cinema HD Display (30″ flat panel)
• AirPort Extreme Card
• Bluetooth Module
• 8x SuperDrive (DVD-R/CD-RW)
• PCI-X Gigabit Ethernet Card
• Bluetooth Module + Apple Wireless Keyboard & Mouse – U.S. English
• Mac OS X – U.S. English
$8699.00 With no Software.
Voodoo Rage System
Voodoo RAGE Extreme Gaming Machine Intel
Voodoo Performance and Stability Re-Engineering
Voodoo Renowned Cabling System
IS09001:2000 Quality Control Standards
Voodoo Disaster Recovery System II
Free VoodooPC T-Shirt
Voodoo Koeskin System Binder
Voodoo EDGE Aluminium Mousing Surface
Voodoo Illuminated Mask & Airbox
Voodoo MESA Forced Air Chassis
Eye of the Storm and Electric Veins
ASUS P5ND2-SLI Deluxe Motherboard
Voodoo 600 Watt Noisetaker 2.0
Voodoo f:2 Twin Turbo Intercooler
Intel Pentium4 EE Dual Core 3.2GHz 800MHz FSB
4 GiG Crucial Ballistix DDR2-667 Memory
Pioneer Dual Layer 16X DVD+-RW
Configure & Enable Onboard RAID(s)
400 GiG HGST Sata 7200 RPM
400 GiG HGST Sata 7200 RPM
400 GiG HGST Sata 7200 RPM
nVidia GeForce 6800 Ultra 512 PCI Express
32″ Samsung Syncmaster 323T LCD
Voodoo On-Board 8-Channel Audio System
Voodoo SOUL 5.1 Complimentary with RAGE System
Voodoo GIGABIT Ethernet Connection
Voodoo GameDoctor – 1 Year Membership
Halflife2 Bronze Edition
FUEL Software Essentials v2.0
Windows XP Professional
Logitech Cordless Comfort Duo
Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer
Standard Select Upgrade Assurance
Voodoo PlatinumCare 1 Year
$8914.00
Look how much more you get with the PC, Apple hardware is so limited it’s insane.
I am beaten silly by Its no wonder…
This is palm abuse!
Oh Windows nerds……go look at the stats at 2003’s supercomputers when the Virginia Tech Big Mac was ranked #3 in the world — while using Mac OS X.
And how many of the top 10 were using a Windows OS?
NONE!
And oh yeah – the ones ranked lower even used higher numbers of dual Pentiums and still couldn’t match the speed.
$8900 to play HalfLife 2?
Think of how many hookers you could buy for that…
In fact – of the top 500 supercomputers, only one uses a Microsoft OS.
Look it up.
My school had 3 super computers, Linux, Windows 2003 & OS X.
Sorry Mac user but the Windows Machine beat the Mac and linux hads down.
NoMacForYou, do you know what half of what you wrote in your Voodoo machine was?
The ISO 9001:2000 is a documentation system that says you wrote a bunch of work instructions and paid an auditor to come and grade you on following them. I see your 9001, and raise you 14001, the environmental standard.
Secondly, added a SECOND Gigabit ethernet connection with the PCI-X Ethernet card. You may not have realized that the first one comes standard in all Powermacs.
Then, you didn’t take any notice of any of the standard software that comes with the unit, since they’re not summed up for you in the Apple Store Summary. That includes the entire iLife suite, which I’ve managed to sell Apple to Windows users based on iMovie and iDVD alone.
If you just cut and paste from Voodoo’s website, you might want to reconsider buying a computer from folks who are trying to pad their offering with unrelated information about their company.
(And you might want to check back in a few days to see if they also try to mention how many employees are at the company that wants to sell you that computer.)
Buy what works for you, don’t buy the hype.
Dude, Lighten up. I just copy / pasted. As for the second ethernet, Take a hundred Bucks of of the Total, big deal.
Gee. I want a $8914 machine from Voodoo. Then I can play games.
Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy.
I built a haming macine for $1200 and it still was better then any mac.