Alex Hoffman

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MS Longhorn (lite) due to ship in second-half 2006

Update 23-Jul-06: This topic is now out of date.
Update:  see also this post by Scoble and the comments to that post relating to deployment.

Microsoft Longhorn is now due to ship in second-half 2006 without WinFS, Indigo and Avalon*.  Beta 1 due June 2005.

While Indigo and Avalon may be released separately (?) for both XP and Longhorn (as "add-ins" for both OS's), the constantly changing feature list/timetable/roadmap most highlights those apologists for whom Microsoft can do no wrong.

This is the 4th alternative to the release strategy of either:-

  1. announcing products and delivering on time
  2. never pre-announcing new products
  3. releasing "only when the product is right/ready and no sooner" (i.e. we're incapable of delivering according to schedule)
  4. releasing on time minus most of the product (i.e. we're incapable of delivering in accordance with specification)
  5. announcing a product and never delivering it

* See Longhorn/Whidbey/Yukon Release Date Summary

Published Monday, February 14, 2005 8:16 AM by Alex Hoffman

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Comments

# re: MS Longhorn (lite) due to ship in second-half 2006 @ Sunday, February 13, 2005 5:23 PM

I think there is a wrong assumption in this prediction. Just becauase Avalon and Indigo are going to be supported under XP (and qualify as a separate product) doesn't mean that they won't ship with Longhorn. Part of Longhorn is supposed to be a new driver model which makes Avalon support much better than it will be under XP. Also, the new desktop is being built on Avalon.

Finally, there has only been one source for this rumour (serverside.net). I'll put more stock into it when I see something more concrete from a reliable source.

Rob Cannon

# re: MS Longhorn (lite) due to ship in second-half 2006 @ Sunday, February 13, 2005 5:47 PM

While Avalon and Indigo might be supported under XP, that doesn't negate or diminish the changes to the Longhorn schedule.

As Paul Thurrott of the Windows IT Pro list states:-

"A Microsoft executive told CNET this week that Longhorn Beta 1 will ship by the end of second quarter 2005 (i.e., June), publicly corroborating the schedule I published on the SuperSite for Windows in January (see the URL below). According to Microsoft, beta 1 will target developers, as previous alpha builds did. And unless something dramatic changes during the next few months--and it could--don't expect anything too dramatic from the beta. According to my sources at the company, current build 5xxx versions of Longhorn look almost exactly like XP and don't have many interesting new features. If Microsoft doesn't pull a rabbit out of the proverbial hat soon, Longhorn is going to edge so far into joke territory that no one will be interested."

Alex Hoffman

# re: MS Longhorn (lite) due to ship in second-half 2006 @ Thursday, March 10, 2005 4:46 PM

Hi Alex - I think 4 is probably preferrable to 2. I deal a bit with Canon, and they won't say a word about a product or even their plans for a product until it is within 2 months of ship. This leaves people in the unfortunate position of making expensive acquisitions without even knowing that a new version is *planned* for 4 months time.

Microsoft's trend of stuggling to ship anything is certainly worrying, and I largely agree with your sentiments.

Nick Wienholt