Microsoft Office Enterprise 2007 Microsoft Watch -

October eleven,Office 2010 Download, 2003 12:00 PM
It's Official: No Longhorn Until 2006


At Microsoft's globally partner conference this week, Microsoft lastly admitted that Longhorn won't see the light-weight of day till 2006.

This is not a guess on my aspect, educated or in any other case. Or flame bait. Or conjecture. This is straight from the horses' mouths.

At the demonstrate this week, a number of Microsoft execs casually slipped into their presentations that Longhorn is 3 decades away from debut. Previous time I did the math, that was not 2005, as promised just a handful of months ago. Nor is it even the wishy-washy "2005+" that a couple of execs had taken to attaching to their product timetables. The brand new target is 2006, basic and straightforward.

Did the organization think no one would recognize? Or maybe in any case that Abita beer on draft served up at the Friday night companion celebration at the Home of Blues, that nobody could count?

Maybe Microsoft is assuming that tacking one more 12 months onto a product which is already far from debut would not make a difference. But when Longhorn consumer is three decades away, meaning the remainder from the Longhorn wave also is three decades from cresting.

That signifies there will likely be no Visual Studio equipment release for 2 many years right after "Whidbey" (which Microsoft is still insisting will be a late 2004 products). No Office twelve till 2006. And Longhorn Server — which was expected, until finally this week, in 2006 — is now, more likely than not a 2007 products (given that it was set to lag the client release by a year).

For some customers, a yr delay actually might be considered a relief. Not everyone wants and needs major products upgrades every two a long time. And for Microsoft,Office 2010 Professional, which is in the midst of a major campaign to convince existing customers to upgrade to Windows XP and Office XP, a delay may help fuel such a push.

But Microsoft has been talking to its partners about Longhorn since 2001, at least. (I wrote my first story on "Indigo," the Web services stack in the heart of Longhorn, two a long time in the past).


Check Out This First Stab at Defining Indigo From 2001

Each 12 months, we heard that more and more can't-live-without features would be baked into Longhorn. The ultimate in security (Next Generation Secure Computing Base,Microsoft Office Enterprise 2007, a k a "Palladium")? Longhorn. Self-healing/self-managing systems? The infrastructure will probably be baked into Longhorn. A simpler Windows-presentation infrastructure? Just hang on for Longhorn. The next version of Internet Explorer? Not available in any way other than as portion of Longhorn.

Earlier this yr, Microsoft execs proclaimed the organization had decided against introducing a stop-gap interim Windows release between XP and Longhorn. That didn't look like a bad strategy when Longhorn consumer was a 2004 products. Even as a 2005 item, the idea of foregoing a "Shorthorn" wasn't outrageous. But now that it really is 2006? Five decades without a new desktop? That is a long time.

Even CEO Steve Ballmer seemingly is champing at the bit for a new release. In talking up XP Service Pack 2 — which Microsoft has delayed right up until Q2/Q3 of next 12 months in order to include a bunch of new security technologies in the SP — Ballmer called SP2 "a new version of Windows XP."

Read Ballmer's Full Partner Conference Keynote Speech Here

XP SP2: Service Pack or New Windows Release?

And More on What's New, From a Security Standpoint, in Service Pack 2

Indeed, Microsoft is planning to distribute XP SP2 quite broadly: through retail, OEMs,Office 2010 Download, downloads and in other "creative ways." But the company is maintaining SP2 is going to be free. (Perhaps Microsoft could use XP SP2 as its "free software" poster child that it can pit against "free" open source software in its future TCO studies,Microsoft Office 2010 Professional Plus! I better not give them any ideas….)

Do you care that Longhorn is now a 2006 deliverable? Does yet another delay impact you in any way? If so, how?

Write me at mswatch@ziffdavis.com and let me know what you think.

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