Long Road to Longhorn

Earlier this week, Jupiter Research published the report, "Longhorn: Implications of the Next Windows' Ship Date." The report conveys when I believe Microsoft can realistically ship Longhorn for general public availability. Hint: It's not 2005, folks. The report also explains why the Windows/PC/third-party software ecosystem can sustain solid sales regardless of the different Longhorn public release date.

Longhorn is Microsoft's next-generation Windows and successor to version XP, which the company released in October 2001. Microsoft plans to introduce a radically new data store that will change how consumers and businesses find information on their PCs, across the network or the Internet.

Microsoft also is lining up Longhorn versions of its major applications to ship in the same timeframe as the new Windows. Such a product alignment is not without precedent. When moving from 16-bit DOS/Windows 3.1 to Windows 95, Microsoft quickly released new versions of Office and other major applications. In fact, Office 95 shipped simultaneously with Windows 95.

The new Windows File System (WinFS) is no less a radical architectural change. I see Microsoft's release of supporting Longhorn applications as a way of ensuring good sales of the new operating system.

Posted by Joe Wilcox at August 15, 2003 01:49 PM