Never in its history has Microsoft had to wait so long between Windows releases. When Windows XP launched in October, 2001, researcher Gartner Inc. expected the software giant to gin up a new version within two years. But Microsoft's ambitious follow-up to Windows XP, code-named Longhorn, has bogged down in delays. The company rarely discloses timelines for products, lest it miss its targets. But in copies of two e-mail messages obtained by BusinessWeek, Microsoft lays out a roadmap that shows Longhorn debuting in the first six months of 2006.
What's more, the e-mails disclose Microsoft's plans to cut some of the most far-reaching pieces of Longhorn in order to get the product shipped. For instance, Microsoft had planned to overhaul the file system, the way information is stored. The goal had been to change the way files relate to one another, so that users could quickly find documents, e-mail, and photos that have some connection to one another. It would be easy, for example, to locate not just digital photos, but e-mail from people in them. It's an enormous undertaking.
To get Longhorn out the door in its new timeframe, Microsoft has curbed its ambition. In a Mar. 4 e-mail to Windows workers, Vice-President Joe Peterson broke the news: "I think we all recognize that we need to turn the corner on Longhorn," Peterson wrote. On Mar. 19, he outlined how Microsoft plans to scale back: "We are going to focus on doing fewer things, and doing them well." The current plan calls for the file system to work on PCs but not extend to files shared over a corporate network.
News source: BusinessWeek
What's more, the e-mails disclose Microsoft's plans to cut some of the most far-reaching pieces of Longhorn in order to get the product shipped. For instance, Microsoft had planned to overhaul the file system, the way information is stored. The goal had been to change the way files relate to one another, so that users could quickly find documents, e-mail, and photos that have some connection to one another. It would be easy, for example, to locate not just digital photos, but e-mail from people in them. It's an enormous undertaking.
To get Longhorn out the door in its new timeframe, Microsoft has curbed its ambition. In a Mar. 4 e-mail to Windows workers, Vice-President Joe Peterson broke the news: "I think we all recognize that we need to turn the corner on Longhorn," Peterson wrote. On Mar. 19, he outlined how Microsoft plans to scale back: "We are going to focus on doing fewer things, and doing them well." The current plan calls for the file system to work on PCs but not extend to files shared over a corporate network.
News source: BusinessWeek
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Last edited by 9969 on 21 May 2004 - 19:45
STV
STV
Corporate users aren't newbies I think so guess MS isn't targetting them this time.
I personally think that WinFS is a feature for home-comp users, there should be replacement(s) from MS Office team or other server team to offer similar technology to corporate users...... who knows~
Windows 2006 - Home (No WinFS)
Windows 2007 - Corperate (WinFS)
?
The full-version release of each operating system was substantially different than the previous one before it. Longhorn is substantially more complicated than NT5.x, just as NT5.x was substantially more complicated than NT4. NT5's ship date slipped significantly from the original plan, it shouldn't be a surprise to Gartner that Longhorn is slipping.
Whether or not it's worth waiting 5 or so years for these fewer features we will see.
i think it is more designing and architecture than it is coding. because once it is designed and figured out, coding will be easier. but still this "sacrifice" is supposed to hold the windows OS for another 10-20 years before another overhaul. so at this point patience is good.
STV
From a user perspective, having couple of sound-promising features, but with a poor-implementations, is a wrongful thing to do. People should see it in XP's original ICF (Internet Connection Firewall, aka Windows Firewall now), which SP2 finally really presents it to the world.
WinFS is a good idea, I just hope MS wouldn't screw it up!
Have you guys seen the implementation demos from MS? Grab one of the 4 (or 5) videos and take a look at how MS think about WinFS. If applications be able to do what the demos are doing, that would be awesome!!~ (note the demos are playing roles of corporate users, while MS plans to make Longhorn idiot-proof...~)
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