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I remember seeing an awesomely kool looking video of Longhorn(now Vista) back in 2002-2003. It had features and GUI enough to push back Apple way behind the current game. For those who are not getting even a slightest idea check the video below.

[ youtube=http://youtube.com/w/?v=Tf29haATORQ]

So where are the features showcased during PDC-2003? Why Microsoft had to settle for something less and name it Vista? And why the features that resembles Mac? Why, Microsoft Why? What happened to Longhorn concept?Well, I’m still searching for the answer. Few points that come to my mind are:

• Business Strategy.

It could be Microsoft’s business strategy to first commercialize Vista, a rip-off of the longhorn concept, get the jargons Aero, Yukon, Avalon etc. out, and then release the main product. It could be like releasing Windows 2000 first and then XP(which is built over 2000).

• People not ready for it.

This could be partially true. If you remember Tablet-PC, which was popularized by Microsoft way back in 1993. There wasn’t much appreciation from the general public and Microsoft had to wait for almost a decade for it to get commercialize.

• Microsoft is still working on it.

The initial promise of Microsoft of a new File System, called WinFS was pulled off from Vista due to several reasons. Microsoft has to throughly test the whole new OS after integrating all the features. WinFS wouldn’t have finished by the deadline set for Vista’s release.

• More features = More resources

Well, I don’t need to explain much. Vista itself needs around 2Gb to work smoothly(512Mb minimum, but will minimum work for us?). A high level of UI presentation would mean a lot more that 4GB of RAM that the current 32-bit architecture won’t support.(Ahh i remember my old days when i begged my dad for 8Mb of RAM ).

• Not enough usage.

Yep, seriously, this could also be a reason. These features may look awesome to some, but for some it would be a time waster. There are a lot of people who change their start menu to the way old Win95/98/2k style and don’t prefer the xp/vista style. They feel comfortable in their old style zone. Pumping in all the frills may not be the update that they are looking for.

Well, all’s well that end’s well, i believe that Microsoft is not dropping the Longhorn concept, and would bring it back in the upcoming Windows7/Vienna.
What you say?

In their monthly Windows Update offerings, Microsoft has announced a trio of speed and reliablity updates to be available this tuesday. These updates would be offered through Windows Update.

These fixes are anyway also gonna get added to the Service Pack 1, whcih the company announced would be release anytime in the first quarter of the coming year.

Now, this is the second time after august that Microsoft has included Vista performance and reliablity hotfixes with Windows Update offerings. Seriously, this looks great, as the proverb goes “With great competition, comes great products” (yep, i just made it ;)). With Microsoft losing another percent in the desktop market to Apple, they have really geared up and are already on their heels. I believe, we would be seeing some more reliability and sped-boosters before SP1 is out.

Well, other updates that would be offered includes a multi update that:

• Extends laptop battery life.
• Improves the stability of wireless network connections.
• Shortens recovery time after exiting hibernation or sleep.
• Deals with compatibility problems with some antivirus software.

There are other fixes too, related to USB issues and an update to the Windows Media Centre. According to Nick White(Microsoft Vista’s Product Manager), the USB rollup fixes problems that have caused 1% to 2% of all reported Vista crashes.

[Credits : ComputerWorld]

Expression round the clock, a conference conducted by Microsoft for promoting the newly released Microsoft Expression Studio, a suite of design and media applications aimed at designers and developers together. 4th october saw the global event spwaning 10 location all over the world.

In India, it was conducted at the “silicon valley of India”, better known as Bangalore. The event was conducted at Fuga, a local disco on Brigade Road.

The event started with a keynote on Staying Creative from Shelly Armstrong,  followed by a presentation cum demo of Expression Studio by Supreet Singh and Pandurang. Expression studio is built over the concept that neither the design should change the code nor the code should disturb the design. The september preview is built to work seamlessly with Visual Studio 2008.

Each project creatd in Expression Studio is a Visual Studio compatible solution file. Some of the samples can show the major features of Expression Studio. Expression studio is not available as a single download but you have to download each components seperately. For downloading please click here.

Fun and Goodies :

As i mentioned that the event was held in a disco, i guess i rule out all doubts on the availability of booze.  And the goodies included a T-Shirt from Reebok and a 60-day evaluation version of Expression Studio(how I wish I would have got the full licensed version ).

In any case, MS employees never forgot to showcase the “Microsoft Surface” video. In fact they showed it a minimum of 5-6 times during the presentation-cum-demo itself.

I was there with one of my best buddy. The session was quite informative and enjoyed it lot.