Earlier this week, Windows Longhorn evangelist Robert Scoble posted a Weblog entry on the reported delays and why everyone should attend Microsoft's Professional Developers Conference (PDC) late next month. (I've written a report for Jupiter that puts Longhorn's public release in 2006.) You can find Mr. Scoble's funny ditty here.

Mr.Scoble asks an important question: Why should anyone attend PDC if Longhorn won't ship for a couple more years? "Longhorn is a freaking HUGE project," he writes, later discussing the 1,000-plus page book that covers the new file system. He encourages everyone interested in Longhorn to learn as much as possible now; waiting for release isn't enough.

I completely agree. I would recommend that every company thinking about adopting Longhorn or every software developer thinking about creating Longhorn products should find out about the new Windows as early on in the process as possible. The reason: The new file system, which could be a hardship for existing programs.

First, significant look at the file system should come at PDC. Remember, the file system will debut first in Yukon, the next verson of SQL Server. And Yukon is on an earlier development cycle than Longhorn.