Updated: July 9, 2020 (November 17, 2003)
Analyst ReportLonghorn Preview Focuses on Developers
The next release of Windows, code-named Longhorn, will fundamentally change the way that developers create applications for the first time since the introduction of Windows NT and the Win32 API. The changes, demonstrated at the Professional Developers Conference (PDC) in Nov. 2003, involve the deep integration of the .NET Framework into Windows, which Microsoft hopes will spawn a new generation of applications that will only be available on Longhorn, compelling users to upgrade.
Why an Early Heads-Up?
With Longhorn, Microsoft is introducing new subsystems to improve graphics (code-named Avalon), to support Web services and other types of communications between applications (code-named Indigo), and for accessing data stored in the file system (code-named WinFS). Developers will reach these subsystems through a new set of APIs, called WinFX, that take the .NET Framework, extend it significantly, and move it into the OS. (See “WinFX: The .NET Framework Takes Center Stage” in this issue.)
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