Longhorn graphics
Well, I'll be yet another person to link to
this preview for Longhorn at winsupersite.com, but it really covers a lot of new details about what's in Longhorn. Especially interesting for me were the bits about the new graphics engine. I really enjoy using GDI+ (much more than GDI at least), but the DCE sounds really cool.
"To fix these problems, Microsoft has created the Desktop Composition Engine, a new low-level graphics engine that works in an entirely different way than GDI/GDI+. In the DCE, each application renders Each application renders to a back buffer instead of directly onscreen. Windows then composes the desktop on every frame using these back buffers, and effects are applied to some windows where appropriate; these effects include, but are not limited to transparency, 3D transforms, and visual effects like re-coloring (which will be nice for the high contrast modes used for accessibility). "We use DirectX to render the desktop," Hammil noted, "and it will run on the version of DirectX that is included in Longhorn." This version is currently code-named DirectX/LH."Yeah, I'm gonna have to try my hardest to make to to the PDC:
"Hammil said the APIs will debut this fall at the PDC and will include 2D vector graphics, 3D graphics, digital imaging, ClearType text, and video capabilities to developers."