Windows Longhorn enters beta testing

[Asher]

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/longhorn/default.mspx

Never thought I'd see the day.

Right now it's invite-only, the public will be able to apply later this summer.

[Kuciwalker]

/me wants an invite

[alva]

I'm sure one is able to find one, if one wants one bad enough.

[Lawrence of Arabia]

moooooooooooo.

those are bill gates' boxers on the left.

[Asher]

Some screenshots (including IE7).

http://www.networkmirror.com/JOdkEXG2eLXwsioX/www.flexbeta.net/main/comments.php%3Fcatid%3D1%26shownews%3D13839.html

[Harovan]

Looks like a bunch of eyecandy. Not enough to judge about anything, though.

Out of pure interest, how long will this ADMINI~1 crap in the command window continue to chase us? Is compatibility to a ten years old DOS still such an issue?

[St Leo]

Same screenshots as above

When is it supposed to stop being ugly?

[Verto]

Looks like Windows XP wtih WindowsBlinds running.

Why exactly am I supposed to want to buy this?

[SpencerH]

I'd like to know what advantages it has over XPpro with all the updates (which I find to be much better than any previous windows incarnations).

[St Leo]

Originally posted by Sir Ralph
Out of pure interest, how long will this ADMINI~1 crap in the command window continue to chase us? Is compatibility to a ten years old DOS still such an issue?

Actually, spaces in filenames are a huge pain to deal with on the command line because spaces are used as separators in commands. A longer case-aware spaceless filename would be a welcome addition, though.

ProgramFiles is easier to deal with than both PROGRA~1 and Program Files.

[Asher]

Originally posted by SpencerH
I'd like to know what advantages it has over XPpro with all the updates (which I find to be much better than any previous windows incarnations).

A lot of it is under the hood stuff, like replacing Win32 with WinFX and GDI+ with Avalon. Wholesale re-designs and recoding that's meant to be somewhat transparant to the user.

Also, stuff like deep RSS integration: http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/longhorn_rss.asp

Other stuff: http://www.winsupersite.com/faq/longhorn.asp

Q: So what will be new and different in Windows Longhorn?

A: Here's what we know about Longhorn at this early stage:

* Longhorn will feature a task-based (or "iterative") interface that goes far beyond the task-based interface found today in Windows XP. Microsoft has been working to move beyond the dated desktop metaphor still used by most desktop operating systems; I explain some of Microsoft's early work on task-based interfaces in my old Activity Centers preview. This new user interface, or "user experience," is code-named "Aero" and is based on a new .NET-based graphics API called "Avalon," which replaces earlier graphics APIs such as GDI and GDI+, the latter of which debuted in Windows XP.

* Longhorn will require 3D video hardware to render special effects that will make the screen more photorealistic and deep. This doesn't mean that the basic windows and mouse interface is being replaced, just that it will look a lot better. For more information, check out my exhaustive Road to Longhorn, Part Two showcase and my PDC 2003 coverage.

* Longhorn will optionally include the Palladium security technology Microsoft is developing with Intel and AMD (see the next question for details).

* Longhorn will include new anti-virus (AV) APIs that will help developers more easily integrate their wares into the base OS. Microsoft will also offer Longhorn customers a subscription-based AV feature that use AutoUpdate to keep your system up-to-date with new virus signatures.

* Longhorn will include integrated recordable DVD capabilities and will work with every type of recordable DVD format. Digital media enthusiasts will be able to copy video from a digital camcorder directly to recordable DVD, bypassing the system's hard drive entirely, if desired.

* Longhorn will include an advanced version of the successful Error Reporting Tool (ERT) that shipped in Windows XP; the goal is that only a small number of customers should have to report a bug to Microsoft before the company fixes it and ships the fix electronically and automatically to users.

* Longhorn will include a new Setup routine that installs the OS in about 15 minutes.

* Longhorn will feature hundreds of new APIs that will let provide access to the new system's features. The Win32 API from previous Windows versions is being replaced by a new .NET-based API called WinFX, for example. It will also feature a new communications and collaboration subsystem, dubbed Indigo.

One thing that has changed is that the initial release of Longhorn will no longer include the Windows Future Storage (WinFS) relational database-based storage engine as originally planned. Instead, Microsoft will deliver WinFS as a free out-of-band upgrade for Longhorn users a year after Longhorn ships.

Given the seemingly never-ending nature of Longhorn's years-long development time, Microsoft has a bit of a sell-job on its hands when it comes to promoting the product to consumers and business users. In this section, I'll focus on some of the Longhorn features that Microsoft will highlight to its customers throughout 2005. Some of these features are well-known already, while some are less well known. But all of them are considered by the software giant to be key technological investments that will pay off with a spike in customer adoptions.
Visually exciting

Longhorn will include advanced graphics capabilities that will instantly differentiate Longhorn PCs from those based on Windows XP. "This is exciting stuff," Microsoft lead product manager Greg Sullivan told me recently. "Longhorn's graphics will fully exploit the power of 3D graphics accelerators and provide a very rich user experience." Longhorn's tiered graphics system will automatically tune itself according to the capabilities of your PC. If you have a powerful PC, Longhorn will provide the high-end Aero Glass user interface, which includes stunning animations, vector graphics-based icons and screen elements, and translucencies. Less powerful PCs will utilize the Aero Express user interface, which provides an Aero Glass-like UI that is based on XP-level graphics technologies. For legacy systems or those used by corporations that don't wish to retrain users on the new Longhorn UI, Longhorn will also offer a backwards compatibility mode that resembles the stock Windows 2000 user interface.

The important thing to remember about Longhorn's display capabilities is that they aren't just there to look cool. Document icons will provide mini-thumbnails that resemble the actual document, providing at-a-glance recognition to the file you may be looking for. Animations will be used to help you understand where a window goes when you minimize it. And so on: More of Longhorn's graphical changes will be revealed during the Beta 1 and Beta 2 timeframes.
Powerful, Reliable & Secure

Microsoft hopes to make Longhorn what it calls a "high performance, robust, and safe operating system." To accomplish this, it will need to overhaul the way user accounts work in Windows. Today, Windows XP supports Limited User accounts, administrator accounts (and others, in XP Pro and newer), but few people use anything but administrator-level accounts because the Limited User account is almost useless.

In Longhorn, Microsoft will introduce the new least privileged user account (LUA), which is basically a secure code compartment in which most application code will typically run. When trusted applications need administrator-level access, they can temporarily run in Protected User mode. This feature will help sidestep most of the problems home users now face with Limited User accounts, but administrators in businesses can turn it off.

As with Windows XP SP2, Longhorn will provide strong security warnings and guidance when it detects errant actions. However, Longhorn's warning notifications can occur because of local code as well, and not just because of Internet-based communications, as in XP SP2. The idea is that users will feel safe, and they will be able to undo any action, further strengthening the security aura.

Overall, the security and management advancements in Longhorn will be evolutionary when compared with Windows XP with Service Pack 2. For example, the new security policy features in XP SP2 will be expanded dramatically in Longhorn, but will work the same way. So administrators will face a shorter learning curve with understanding how Group Policy works in Longhorn.

Longhorn will support a new updating model called hot patching, through which Microsoft will be able to apply updates to any non-kernel code, including drivers, without requiring a reboot. Longhorn will still need to be rebooted after certain patches, of course, but there will be much fewer than with Windows XP SP2 or Windows Server 2003: 70 percent less is the goal.

Additionally, Longhorn will feature a new instant-on capability that will see Longhorn-savvy systems resume from Standby in 2 seconds or less. And cold boot time should be 50 percent less than with XP on the same system, Microsoft claims.
IT Operational Efficiency

For businesses looking at deploying Longhorn on the desktop, Longhorn will offer a number of advantages over Windows XP, reducing the costs of deployment, management and support.

Longhorn will be able to detect and eliminate spyware and malware, using next-generation versions of the Windows AntiSpyware and anti-virus products that Microsoft is now developing. Administrators will also be able to scan PCs and the network for vulnerabilities.

Longhorn will include technology based on the Encrypting File System (EFS) that helps prevent data exposure from lost or stolen laptops. You'll be able to forward event logs to a central location.

In Longhorn, applications will launch and load files 15 percent faster than with Windows XP.

Longhorn will feature new image creation, deployment, and management tools that will make deployment much simpler. Longhorn's componentized underpinnings will reduce the number of install images corporations are required to maintain. A new version of the User State Migration Tool (USMT) will further improve state migration by taking advantage of Longhorn's native scripting environment. Additionally, Longhorn will feature a new version of Remote Assistance.
Work Smarter

Longhorn will offer more natural ways to access, organize and use information, and is designed to improve Information Worker (IW) productivity. The key to this, of course, is the new Fast Search feature, which many people incorrectly assumed was being removed from Longhorn when Microsoft delayed WinFS to a post-Longhorn release. That's not the case. Longhorn fast search will provide near-instant searching of your PC, the local network, and the Internet. And it's designed to be intuitive to existing Windows users.

Fast Search will feature new ways to organize data, including Lists, AutoLists and filters (Figure). Search results will include data from different store types (documents, email messages, pictures, etc.), and can be sorted by custom meta-data. And Longhorn's new shell windows, which will feature a handy "breadcrumb" navigation feature, will also include instant view filtering based on Fast Search technology and file preview (Figure).

Another Fast Search feature, called Stacks (Figure), will help aggregate content by such things as authors, keywords, type, and so on. You can then group Stacks by various properties, such as name, size, modified date, type, or authors, in order to provide multiple relevant views on the same data.

Microsoft believes that Fast Search will reduce the time users spend searching for files on their PC by 80 percent. And re-directed folder synchronization will be 50 percent faster than with Windows XP.

(Speaking of WinFS, Microsoft will ship a preview of that relational storage technology when the Longhorn client is completed in mid-2006. WinFS, when it ships, will enable even more powerful search than does Fast Search. However, Microsoft has not yet determined when it will ship WinFS or how it will package and distribute the technology.)

Longhorn will more reliably resume from crashes, and include better application management and back-up and restore functionality.

With Longhorn, creating ad hoc networks based on peer-to-peer technologies will be simple and seamless, opening up new avenues for group collaboration. Microsoft sees information workers creating these ad hoc networks in meetings so they can share presentations and collaborate on documents. A new domain-like networking scheme called a castle will replace workgroups for home users. In a castle type network, user credentials can move from machine to machine without a centralized server.
Stay Connected

Longhorn's ability to synchronize data between PCs and various portable devices will be unsurpassed. It will also be a wireless networking wunderkind. Or, as Microsoft puts it, Longhorn will let you "work together and accomplish more anytime, anywhere." There you go.

Alpha Longhorn builds have hinted at what's to come: A universal synchronization manager called SyncManager will manage the connections between software and hardware.

And the new wireless networking stack will support Anywhere Remote Access and a more seamless way to transition between networks, and, in the case of multiple available networks, automatically utilize the one with the most bandwidth.
Next Generation Platform

Conceptually, the Longhorn platform will be based on Avalon (presentation subsystem), Indigo (messaging and Web services), and the WinFX programming model, which is based on .NET managed code. Last August, Microsoft revealed that these technologies would be provided "down level" to users running Windows XP with Service Pack 2 and Windows Server 2003 with Service Pack 1. It would seem, peripherally, that Longhorn doesn't have a lot of unique technology to offer developers. That's not quite true.

First, by providing these technologies to existing users, Microsoft is dramatically expanding the markets for applications and services based on Avalon and Indigo, giving developers incentive to adopt these technologies more quickly. In this way, WinFX will perform the same role the Win32 API did over a decade ago. Second, Longhorn will include unique new features that are not available to XP SP2 users, making that platform more valuable to Longhorn adopters. The most obvious of these, of course, is the Aero user interface, which will make video-quality 3D effects a natural part of the PC experience.

One thing users should be aware of is that Longhorn will include a new kernel and will thus not offer the same level of compatibility with legacy 16-bit and 32-bit code that Windows XP does today. For business users, Microsoft believes that Virtual PC 2007 will help broaden corporations' compatibility options. But the company will also ship an early release of the Longhorn Compatibility Toolkit in 2005 to get users ready for the changes.

[Q Classic]

/me wants a beta invite
/me also wants the x86 os x developer kit. Will see if work provides.

[Q Classic]

If that's what Aero looks like, I'll have to say it looks hella lot better than the developer builds I've seen/played with.

[Asher]

It's not the final UI, it's the interim UI (like the Whistler theme before XP was released).

[Imran Siddiqui]

Wow

That looks purty!

Immy wants Longhorn!