Longhorn

[benb]

Has anyone here heard of the new Longhorn build (5048) released on DVD at Winhec 2005? I have luckily got my hands on a copy and am using it through VMware 5. What does everyone here think of this build, or just Longhorn in general. Do you think its just XP SP3 (thats what it is right now, the login screen for the new build is the XP one), do you think it really will revolutionize security? Do you think that this will be the one OS that sends MS tumbling at the feet of Mac and Linux.

Just this build:

I personally think that this build (Beta 1 according to the installer) is really not that much a difference, but there are a few notable things. Firstly, there is the start menu searcher. When you click start, like in the picture, and you can search on-the-fly for an item that is usually lost. It doesn't just search in "order" though. I typed in "ccleaner" and came up with CCleaner and Uninstall CCleaner. Another interesting thing is that the All Programs comes up on the left side, which I personally dislike. The last big improvement is DWM. I really have no idea what it stands for, but basically it is the engine for all the spinny, twisty, and transparent windows that LH is all about.

Longhorn in general

To be honest, I don't really think I care about Longhorn that much. Sure, it's fun to test, but theres no real difference. I don't care about eye-candy that much, so I don't need DVM. One of the main reasons that Longhorn was going to be so good, was WinFS. But MS stripped that. Now whats left? The promise of security? My XP SP2 is secure enough for me, because I'm not an idiot on the net. I'm the kind person that doesn't go "OOH! 10,000 free smileys! It says no spyware! I'm gonna download it!". I research things first. It's kinda a weird habit, but whenever I download an .exe I scan it with NAV, no matter if its from a legitimate and trusted company. I even scanned the MS Anti-Spyware installer. Overall, Longhorn is just MS trying to catch up to Linux and Mac. OSX 10.4 is far superior to Windows XP. Just Spotlight is enough to go out and buy it. The only thing that keeps me from buying a Mac or D/Ling Fedora Core is the fact that the other people in my house wouldn't be able to do anything without their precious Outlook Express or MSN Messenger 7.

[Chris]

This build is far from being in a state to be making speculation on the new Windows Operating System. This build is not for the consumer, it is for the developer. The developer can use this as the foundation to creating, applications etc that no doubt some of us will come to use.

The actual build is not a BETA it's an alpha, a developer build. The first beta is scheduled for June 30 2005.

DWM - Desktop Windows Manager.

Also using this build through VMWARE will not allow you to see the advances in the way Windows is rendered.

Rendered being it requires Grapics Card Acceleration with DX9.

I've seen a few demos of Avalon and they very impressive and that is not even in beta.

...

Considering XP is nearly 4 years old and with two service packs and taking into account that Tiger has been development for the last 18 months, it's no suprise that Tiger has a somewhat advantage.

I agree that Spotlight is excellent as are many things in Tiger. I have Tiger myself and spotlight is a joy to use!

Microsoft are taking security very seriously and one feature in particuliar is known as LUP [level user privlages] [i think] Where by anything that requires system changes etc the user will need a password. This is actually seen in Tiger, linux etc so nothing new except for Winodws users. But a welcomed addition...!

Antispyware will be built in as standard...

But until, well let's say the second beta of Longhorn its difficult to see what Microsoft have in store for us.

What is powerless trying to say

Patience.

[benb]

Yes, I suppose you are right, but what I am trying to say is that some the main features about Longhorn have been taken out. WinFS was a huge thing for me. I don't really care about Avalon that much.