Longhorn - Platform for the Next Ten Years

Having scaled back the vision for Longhorn, Microsoft is re-setting expectations to help drive enthusiasm around the delayed operating system. Chief executive Steve Ballmer was on the Longhorn stump this week calling the repeatedly delayed operating system a platform for the next 10 years.

At the Microsoft’s Management Summit (MMS) in Las Vegas, he outlined six key features, or "pillars". His comments come after Microsoft last year ripped the guts from the Longhorn vision that had been laid-out by Microsoft’s chief software architect, Bill Gates, in 2003.

The Register

CNet News says, "More than Bill Gates, more than Steve Ballmer, it’s Allchin who must convince opinion makers and the all-important OEM community that Longhorn, the code name for the next major operating system from Microsoft, is worth the wait. And then the rest of us have to be convinced that Longhorn is the next must-have product in their lives.

"Microsoft also needs to turn out a "wow" product with as many useful bells and whistles as it can. This is part computer science, part guesswork, but Microsoft still hasn’t produced a "wow" version of Windows. If Longhorn doesn’t produce the goods, not even a gazillion dollars in marketing funds will make a difference. This is about more than managing the message. "