Not much but what there is, is interesting
http://winsupersite.com/
Full Version: Office12 / Longhorn info
I can't get excited. Since I have assumed analyst and test engineering duties at my new job, I have found that XP Pro is NOT fit for commercial use, nor is 2003 server.
There are far to many idiosyncrasies with every incarnation and too many incompatibilities with other major software vendors products.
I have set us on a path of full migration to open source and cross platform products. All our stuff works on UNIX, LINUX, Free BSD, Windows 9x/2K/XP/2003 but most reliably on 2000 for windows.
I got us off using Access and we are now using Firebird (based on Borland's Interbase RDBMS).
For major database, we support them all, but we can use PostgreSQL if the customer cannot afford ORACLE or DB2.
All of our stuff will be re factored to J2EE and EJB for web services and our local config GUI's will be Java/Swing or Tc/Tkl.
We are all converting to OpenOffice 1.1.4. I have already switched. MS has this planned obsolescence to force us all to buy the new junk every 2 years. Take SQL Server 2005 Express.... what a POS that is. Sorry MS, you lose at this organization. In most power companies, they don't use MS servers or workstations in production because they need ultimate reliability and stability. Stability is good. No need to change for changes sake.
In your case Jason, being an admin for peeps using MS OS and Office is ok when they do menial tasks, but as developers of manufacturing and power management software, we need stability, robustness, and reliability. We don't need change for changes sake.
So all that pretty eye-candy is great, but it don't get the job done for us or any of our many customers. Bu-Bye Microsoft. My home machine will be SuSe Linux (already tested it and all my hardware is supported) and OpenOffice as soon an graduation day (this June) is here and I don't need to have IIS and ASP on my machine for school projects. I play all my games on MS's Xbox anyway so I won't be out of the MS loop in that regard.
So farewell then and I hope it all goes well.
There are far to many idiosyncrasies with every incarnation and too many incompatibilities with other major software vendors products.
I have set us on a path of full migration to open source and cross platform products. All our stuff works on UNIX, LINUX, Free BSD, Windows 9x/2K/XP/2003 but most reliably on 2000 for windows.
I got us off using Access and we are now using Firebird (based on Borland's Interbase RDBMS).
For major database, we support them all, but we can use PostgreSQL if the customer cannot afford ORACLE or DB2.
All of our stuff will be re factored to J2EE and EJB for web services and our local config GUI's will be Java/Swing or Tc/Tkl.
We are all converting to OpenOffice 1.1.4. I have already switched. MS has this planned obsolescence to force us all to buy the new junk every 2 years. Take SQL Server 2005 Express.... what a POS that is. Sorry MS, you lose at this organization. In most power companies, they don't use MS servers or workstations in production because they need ultimate reliability and stability. Stability is good. No need to change for changes sake.
In your case Jason, being an admin for peeps using MS OS and Office is ok when they do menial tasks, but as developers of manufacturing and power management software, we need stability, robustness, and reliability. We don't need change for changes sake.
So all that pretty eye-candy is great, but it don't get the job done for us or any of our many customers. Bu-Bye Microsoft. My home machine will be SuSe Linux (already tested it and all my hardware is supported) and OpenOffice as soon an graduation day (this June) is here and I don't need to have IIS and ASP on my machine for school projects. I play all my games on MS's Xbox anyway so I won't be out of the MS loop in that regard.
So farewell then and I hope it all goes well.
You do need change and its not for change sake, its for security, stability and ease of use. I couldn't care less about looks.
Longhorn investments
Given the seemingly never-ending nature of Longhorn's years-long development time, Microsoft has a bit of a sell-job on its hands when it comes to promoting the product to consumers and business users. In this section, I'll focus on some of the Longhorn features that Microsoft will highlight to its customers. Some of these features are well-known already, while some are less well known. But all of them are considered by the software giant to be key technological investments that will pay off with a spike in customer adoptions.
Powerful, Reliable & Secure
Microsoft hopes to make Longhorn what it calls a "high performance, robust, and safe operating system." To accomplish this, it will need to overhaul the way user accounts work in Windows. Today, Windows XP supports Limited User accounts, administrator accounts (and others, in XP Pro and newer), but few people use anything but administrator-level accounts because the Limited User account is almost useless.
In Longhorn, Microsoft will introduce the new least privileged user account (LUA), which is basically a secure code compartment in which most application code will typically run. When trusted applications need administrator-level access, they can temporarily run in Protected Admin mode. This feature will help sidestep most of the problems home users now face with Limited User accounts, but administrators in businesses can turn it off.
As with Windows XP SP2, Longhorn will provide strong security warnings and guidance when it detects errant actions. However, Longhorn's warning notifications can occur because of local code as well, and not just because of Internet-based communications, as in XP SP2. The idea is that users will feel safe, and they will be able to undo any action, further strengthening the security aura.
Overall, the security and management advancements in Longhorn will be evolutionary when compared with Windows XP with Service Pack 2. For example, the new security policy features in XP SP2 will be expanded dramatically in Longhorn, but will work the same way. So administrators will face a shorter learning curve with understanding how Group Policy works in Longhorn.
Longhorn will support a new updating model called hot patching, through which Microsoft will be able to apply updates to any non-kernel code, including drivers, without requiring a reboot. Longhorn will still need to be rebooted after certain patches, of course, but there will be much fewer than with Windows XP SP2 or Windows Server 2003: 70 percent less is the goal.
Additionally, Longhorn will feature a new instant-on capability that will see Longhorn-savvy systems resume from Standby in 2 seconds or less. And cold boot time should be 50 percent less than with XP on the same system, Microsoft claims.
IT Operational Efficiency
For businesses looking at deploying Longhorn on the desktop, Longhorn will offer a number of advantages over Windows XP, reducing the costs of deployment, management and support.
Longhorn will be able to detect and eliminate spyware and malware, using next-generation versions of the Windows AntiSpyware and anti-virus products that Microsoft is now developing. Administrators will also be able to scan PCs and the network for vulnerabilities.
Longhorn will include technology, presumably a new form of the Encrypting File System (EFS), that helps prevent data exposure from lost or stolen laptops. You'll be able to forward event logs to a central location.
In Longhorn, applications will launch and load files 15 percent faster than with Windows XP.
Longhorn will feature new image creation and management tools that will make deployment much simpler. Longhorn's componentized underpinnings will reduce the number of install images corporations are required to maintain. A new version of the User State Migration Tool (USMT) will further improve state migration by taking advantage of Longhorn's native scripting environment. Additionally, Longhorn will feature a new version of Remote Assistance.
Work Smarter
Longhorn will offer more natural ways to access, organize and use information, and is designed to improve Information Worker (IW) productivity. The key to this, of course, is the new Fast Search feature, which many people incorrectly assumed was being removed from Longhorn when Microsoft delayed WinFS to a post-Longhorn release. That's not the case. Longhorn fast search will provide near-instant searching of your PC, the local network, and the Internet. And it's designed to be intuitive to existing Windows users.
Fast Search will feature new ways to organize data, including Lists, AutoLists and filters (Figure). Search results will include data from different store types (documents, email messages, pictures, etc.), and can be sorted by custom meta-data. And Longhorn's new shell windows, which will feature a handy "breadcrumb" navigation feature, will also include instant view filtering based on Fast Search technology and file preview (Figure).
Another Fast Search feature, called Stacks (Figure), will help aggregate content by such things as authors, keywords, type, and so on. You can then group Stacks by various properties, such as name, size, modified date, type, or authors, in order to provide multiple relevant views on the same data.
Microsoft believes that Fast Search will reduce the time users spend searching for files on their PC by 80 percent. And re-directed folder synchronization will be 50 percent faster than with Windows XP.
(Speaking of WinFS, Microsoft will ship a preview of that relational storage technology when the Longhorn client is released in mid-2006. WinFS, when it ships, will enable even more powerful search than does Fast Search. However, Microsoft has not yet determined when it will ship WinFS or how it will package and distribute the technology.)
Longhorn will more reliably resume from crashes, and include better application management and back-up and restore functionality.
With Longhorn, creating ad hoc networks based on peer-to-peer technologies will be simple and seamless, opening up new avenues for group collaboration. Microsoft sees information workers creating these ad hoc networks in meetings so they can share presentations and collaborate on documents. A new domain-like networking scheme called a castle will replace workgroups for home users. In a castle type network, user credentials can move from machine to machine without a centralized server.
Stay Connected
Longhorn's ability to synchronize data between PCs and various portable devices will be unsurpassed. It will also be a wireless networking wunderkind. Or, as Microsoft puts it, Longhorn will let you "work together and accomplish more anytime, anywhere." There you go.
Alpha Longhorn builds have hinted at what's to come: A Universal Synchronization Manager will manage the connections between software and hardware. And the new wireless networking stack will support Anywhere Remote Access and a more seamless way to transition between networks, and, in the case of multiple available networks, automatically utilize the one with the most bandwidth.
Next Generation Platform
Conceptually, the Longhorn platform will be based on Avalon (presentation subsystem), Indigo (messaging and Web services), and the WinFX programming model, which is based on .NET managed code. Last August, Microsoft revealed that these technologies would be provided "down level" to users running Windows XP with Service Pack 2 and Windows Server 2003 with Service Pack 1. It would seem, peripherally, that Longhorn doesn't have a lot of unique technology to offer developers. That's not quite true.
First, by providing these technologies to existing users, Microsoft is dramatically expanding the markets for applications and services based on Avalon and Indigo, giving developers incentive to adopt these technologies more quickly. In this way, WinFX will perform the same role the Win32 API did over a decade ago. Second, Longhorn will include unique new features that are not available to XP SP2 users, making that platform more valuable to Longhorn adopters. The most obvious of these, of course, is the Aero user interface, which will make video-quality 3D effects a natural part of the PC experience.
One thing users should be aware of is that Longhorn will include a new kernel and will thus not offer the same level of compatibility with legacy 16-bit and 32-bit code that Windows XP does today. For business users, Microsoft believes that Virtual PC 2007 will help broaden corporations' compatibility options. But the company will also ship an early release of the Longhorn Compatibility Toolkit in 2005 to get users ready for the changes.
Longhorn investments
Given the seemingly never-ending nature of Longhorn's years-long development time, Microsoft has a bit of a sell-job on its hands when it comes to promoting the product to consumers and business users. In this section, I'll focus on some of the Longhorn features that Microsoft will highlight to its customers. Some of these features are well-known already, while some are less well known. But all of them are considered by the software giant to be key technological investments that will pay off with a spike in customer adoptions.
Powerful, Reliable & Secure
Microsoft hopes to make Longhorn what it calls a "high performance, robust, and safe operating system." To accomplish this, it will need to overhaul the way user accounts work in Windows. Today, Windows XP supports Limited User accounts, administrator accounts (and others, in XP Pro and newer), but few people use anything but administrator-level accounts because the Limited User account is almost useless.
In Longhorn, Microsoft will introduce the new least privileged user account (LUA), which is basically a secure code compartment in which most application code will typically run. When trusted applications need administrator-level access, they can temporarily run in Protected Admin mode. This feature will help sidestep most of the problems home users now face with Limited User accounts, but administrators in businesses can turn it off.
As with Windows XP SP2, Longhorn will provide strong security warnings and guidance when it detects errant actions. However, Longhorn's warning notifications can occur because of local code as well, and not just because of Internet-based communications, as in XP SP2. The idea is that users will feel safe, and they will be able to undo any action, further strengthening the security aura.
Overall, the security and management advancements in Longhorn will be evolutionary when compared with Windows XP with Service Pack 2. For example, the new security policy features in XP SP2 will be expanded dramatically in Longhorn, but will work the same way. So administrators will face a shorter learning curve with understanding how Group Policy works in Longhorn.
Longhorn will support a new updating model called hot patching, through which Microsoft will be able to apply updates to any non-kernel code, including drivers, without requiring a reboot. Longhorn will still need to be rebooted after certain patches, of course, but there will be much fewer than with Windows XP SP2 or Windows Server 2003: 70 percent less is the goal.
Additionally, Longhorn will feature a new instant-on capability that will see Longhorn-savvy systems resume from Standby in 2 seconds or less. And cold boot time should be 50 percent less than with XP on the same system, Microsoft claims.
IT Operational Efficiency
For businesses looking at deploying Longhorn on the desktop, Longhorn will offer a number of advantages over Windows XP, reducing the costs of deployment, management and support.
Longhorn will be able to detect and eliminate spyware and malware, using next-generation versions of the Windows AntiSpyware and anti-virus products that Microsoft is now developing. Administrators will also be able to scan PCs and the network for vulnerabilities.
Longhorn will include technology, presumably a new form of the Encrypting File System (EFS), that helps prevent data exposure from lost or stolen laptops. You'll be able to forward event logs to a central location.
In Longhorn, applications will launch and load files 15 percent faster than with Windows XP.
Longhorn will feature new image creation and management tools that will make deployment much simpler. Longhorn's componentized underpinnings will reduce the number of install images corporations are required to maintain. A new version of the User State Migration Tool (USMT) will further improve state migration by taking advantage of Longhorn's native scripting environment. Additionally, Longhorn will feature a new version of Remote Assistance.
Work Smarter
Longhorn will offer more natural ways to access, organize and use information, and is designed to improve Information Worker (IW) productivity. The key to this, of course, is the new Fast Search feature, which many people incorrectly assumed was being removed from Longhorn when Microsoft delayed WinFS to a post-Longhorn release. That's not the case. Longhorn fast search will provide near-instant searching of your PC, the local network, and the Internet. And it's designed to be intuitive to existing Windows users.
Fast Search will feature new ways to organize data, including Lists, AutoLists and filters (Figure). Search results will include data from different store types (documents, email messages, pictures, etc.), and can be sorted by custom meta-data. And Longhorn's new shell windows, which will feature a handy "breadcrumb" navigation feature, will also include instant view filtering based on Fast Search technology and file preview (Figure).
Another Fast Search feature, called Stacks (Figure), will help aggregate content by such things as authors, keywords, type, and so on. You can then group Stacks by various properties, such as name, size, modified date, type, or authors, in order to provide multiple relevant views on the same data.
Microsoft believes that Fast Search will reduce the time users spend searching for files on their PC by 80 percent. And re-directed folder synchronization will be 50 percent faster than with Windows XP.
(Speaking of WinFS, Microsoft will ship a preview of that relational storage technology when the Longhorn client is released in mid-2006. WinFS, when it ships, will enable even more powerful search than does Fast Search. However, Microsoft has not yet determined when it will ship WinFS or how it will package and distribute the technology.)
Longhorn will more reliably resume from crashes, and include better application management and back-up and restore functionality.
With Longhorn, creating ad hoc networks based on peer-to-peer technologies will be simple and seamless, opening up new avenues for group collaboration. Microsoft sees information workers creating these ad hoc networks in meetings so they can share presentations and collaborate on documents. A new domain-like networking scheme called a castle will replace workgroups for home users. In a castle type network, user credentials can move from machine to machine without a centralized server.
Stay Connected
Longhorn's ability to synchronize data between PCs and various portable devices will be unsurpassed. It will also be a wireless networking wunderkind. Or, as Microsoft puts it, Longhorn will let you "work together and accomplish more anytime, anywhere." There you go.
Alpha Longhorn builds have hinted at what's to come: A Universal Synchronization Manager will manage the connections between software and hardware. And the new wireless networking stack will support Anywhere Remote Access and a more seamless way to transition between networks, and, in the case of multiple available networks, automatically utilize the one with the most bandwidth.
Next Generation Platform
Conceptually, the Longhorn platform will be based on Avalon (presentation subsystem), Indigo (messaging and Web services), and the WinFX programming model, which is based on .NET managed code. Last August, Microsoft revealed that these technologies would be provided "down level" to users running Windows XP with Service Pack 2 and Windows Server 2003 with Service Pack 1. It would seem, peripherally, that Longhorn doesn't have a lot of unique technology to offer developers. That's not quite true.
First, by providing these technologies to existing users, Microsoft is dramatically expanding the markets for applications and services based on Avalon and Indigo, giving developers incentive to adopt these technologies more quickly. In this way, WinFX will perform the same role the Win32 API did over a decade ago. Second, Longhorn will include unique new features that are not available to XP SP2 users, making that platform more valuable to Longhorn adopters. The most obvious of these, of course, is the Aero user interface, which will make video-quality 3D effects a natural part of the PC experience.
One thing users should be aware of is that Longhorn will include a new kernel and will thus not offer the same level of compatibility with legacy 16-bit and 32-bit code that Windows XP does today. For business users, Microsoft believes that Virtual PC 2007 will help broaden corporations' compatibility options. But the company will also ship an early release of the Longhorn Compatibility Toolkit in 2005 to get users ready for the changes.
Having to agree here with mandark
Im setting up servers all the time at work
os distribution server next and windows isnt even a considiration when designing these things i need reliability and security NOW not when ever they decide to bring this longhorn out and we all know that untill the first patchs and maybe sp1 of it is out its not going to be secure
Im setting up servers all the time at work
os distribution server next and windows isnt even a considiration when designing these things i need reliability and security NOW not when ever they decide to bring this longhorn out and we all know that untill the first patchs and maybe sp1 of it is out its not going to be secure
yep. can't agrue with King Bob now either.
How long has UNIX been around? You want REAL stability and still better security? Come on. Longhorn has been a long time coming. I hope it is all they say it will be. I just won't be there to find out.
We may have to support it though so I might get to play with it at work for testing all of our supporting products.
How long has UNIX been around? You want REAL stability and still better security? Come on. Longhorn has been a long time coming. I hope it is all they say it will be. I just won't be there to find out.
We may have to support it though so I might get to play with it at work for testing all of our supporting products.
yer its going to be something that you will have to test with but come on just look at the peep that happy by this
looks a bit weird that jay guy
looks a bit weird that jay guy
as companies move to better functionality, ease of use and stability, they WILL migrate to a windows system...
agreed, Mircosoft is releasing O/S after O/S way too fast...they would do better with smaller, more frequent service packs...and upgrades to the current windows os, than to repackage an os, and charge 400 bucks for it...ala windows XP, and longhorn...
agreed, Mircosoft is releasing O/S after O/S way too fast...they would do better with smaller, more frequent service packs...and upgrades to the current windows os, than to repackage an os, and charge 400 bucks for it...ala windows XP, and longhorn...
i have to say i dont think so but as were moving of topic i wount go on
win servers are just not the way to go yer use em as ur desktops its good for you blonde girls out there but lnx and unx are just so much easyer and simpler to use
win servers are just not the way to go yer use em as ur desktops its good for you blonde girls out there but lnx and unx are just so much easyer and simpler to use
QUOTE(Kingbob @ Mar 10 2005, 04:52 PM)
i have to say i dont think so but as were moving of topic i wount go on
win servers are just not the way to go yer use em as ur desktops its good for you blonde girls out there but lnx and unx are just so much easyer and simpler to use
win servers are just not the way to go yer use em as ur desktops its good for you blonde girls out there but lnx and unx are just so much easyer and simpler to use
Unix is dying and Microsoft is getting a bigger and bigger market share with their servers each year.
oh? where is that published... Gartner? They are in bed with MickeySoft anyway. I do NOT listen to their slanted view of the world.
I know from experience that UNIX is NOT dying. No way, no how. Ain't gonna happen. At least not in our lifetime.
I know from experience that UNIX is NOT dying. No way, no how. Ain't gonna happen. At least not in our lifetime.
Many many websites, magazines etc and from my expereince in the real world.
i am not believing anything utill I see it
I am showing noting as I have nothing to prove.
Anyway can't shoe real world experiences.
Anyway can't shoe real world experiences.
i have to agree with jay in one sence soz manny but not in all unix is dying but were unx is going lnx is going in its place not windows
QUOTE(Kingbob @ Mar 14 2005, 06:11 AM)
i have to agree with jay in one sence soz manny but not in all unix is dying but were unx is going lnx is going in its place not windows
pretty much... yeah.. er, yer
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