Microsoft sets date for Longhorn

29 August 2004 16:56 GMT / By Stuart Miles

Microsoft has announced that start shipping its next version of its Windows operating system in 2006. However to meet the new tight deadline a number of technical innovations will have to be dropped from the OS. Currently called Longhorn, Microsoft has been forced into the decision for the need to get the next version out.

The most notable omission that will be missing from the newly scheduled release is the intelligent data-storage system called WinFS. The system has been touted as being able to intelligently find any kind of information in text, music or video files not only on the PC in question but even on the web.

"One of the major things that Microsoft was touting as part of the Longhorn vision is being left out," said David M. Smith, an analyst at Gartner Inc.

Two major elements of Longhorn - the 3-D graphics user interface, code-named Avalon; and the machine-to-machine Web services communication technology, code-named Indigo - will be included in the 2006 Windows desktop operating system they will also be made available to Windows XP users to increase the number of computers available to run the software making the system a more attractive offering for end users.

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Software, PC software, Operating Systems, Microsoft, Vista