Longhorn Vista
Microsoft has announced their new name for the OS so far called Longhorn, and have made it “Vista”. From what the FAQ on ZDNet says about the presentation from Jim Allchin, this is an underwhelming event for computer users. Longhorn, now Windows Vista, may be arriving more slowly than expected and it might not have everything that was once planned, but Windows chief Jim Allchin maintains “It’s a big deal.” As alterego says,” ‘It’s a big deal’ for Microsoft, not for Windows users.”
It was really starting to sound like another round of vaporware from Redmond, but they insist the thing will ship in 2006 sometime. Most of it just sounds like them trying to catch up with the other guys with features that have already been invented, the spin of course is that it’s all brand new and exciting with Microsoft.
The article first mentions the company has dropped plans to include its all-new WinFS file system, which isn’t really new at all and the idea was first, (unsuccessfully), tried by Jean Louis Gassee with the BeOS PC operating system back in ‘94 if I’ve got the facts right. And Google’s desktop search is already touting an Enterprise Edition.
Security is supposed to be better, just about anything would be better than their WinNTXP or any Win machine for that matter as it is now. Additionally, there’s a new secure boot-up process that helps prevent someone from gaining access to your data if your PC is lost or stolen, nothing new to Mac and *nix users, they have been password protecting their files from the beginning, ditto with encryption of said files.
The visual changes are a pure rip-off from Apple and Sun, starting with Quartz Extreme (the windows even look similar), being rewritten and a concept straight from Sun’s Looking Glass
Supposed to be easier to network too, maybe they will finally catch up to Mac on that one and Windows users will be able to plug and play to their network finally. And finally, let’s not forget to pay homage to the PC manufactures out there, 512MB of memory is going to be the minimum and Ghz range processors only of course. XP is handled on six compact discs, wonder what kind of behemoth has been created this time around, it just doesn’t make sense that their OS is better just because it’s bigger and they aren’t doing anything new.