Windows Client Overview

The next Windows client release will be Windows Vista (formerly code-named Longhorn client) in 2007. Also in 2007, the .NET Framework 3.0 (formerly the WinFX Runtime Components) will be available to update legacy versions of Windows, such as Windows XP SP2, to provide support for some of the WinFX APIs built into Vista, including the Windows Presentation Foundation graphics and user interface APIs and the Windows Communication Foundation application-to-application communication system.

Feature packs for Windows Server will likely be released close to the release of Vista to support client deployment and management. For example, a new OS deployment service, Windows Deployment Services, will replace Windows Remote Installation Service.

Microsoft originally planned to build Longhorn Server and Windows Vista on the same core code base to simplify maintenance (enabling a single service pack to apply to both products, for example). Now the company plans to build Longhorn Server separately from Windows Vista and then issue a service pack (shown here as Windows Vista SP1) that enables customers to update Vista clients to the Longhorn Server core. The next Windows client release after Vista and SP1 will probably be a minor release with some new features and come no earlier than 2010.