Longhorn release in 2006. Good, Bad, or Ugly?

[Søul]

I was reading poppy4's thread on what's the latest OS, and got to reading about Longhorn. What do you all think about it? Are you excited to see what the finished product will be like? And, who's going to be buying it the day it's released? (be honest now)
I learn a lot from you all, so I'd really like to hear your opinions about Bills latest OS. or


http://www.pcworld.com/resource/brow...rtIdx,2,00.asp

http://www.only4gurus.com/v3/longhorn.asp (screenshots)

[Train]

I probably do my normal wait for 4 - 6 months and see what problems the first on the block have.

Or AFTER the first patch

[Ridgerunr]

I pretty much follow Trains logic. I would also take a wait n' see attitude for several months at least.
I would also be looking for things such as: speed increase: accuracy: and security. And if they decide to try the software/chip security they played with a short time ago,they can count me out. I'll stay with XP-Pro and 'no' third party hardware containing this chip or anything similar would be purchased for any of 'my' builds!

[Abhoth]

I like WinXP ... thus will wait. Maybe down the road, quite some time down the road.

[pmckinnie]

Hi all,

I have been using a Beta copy of LongHorn for about a year, and to date have had no problems with it. Granted a few of the features that the final release will have are not in this copy but the base is there and has been rock solid. During this same time frame, I had to reinstall XP several times on one of the machines I have here. The problem is either the mup.exe file or the next file after that.

But back to LongHorn. There will be many changes and aditions before the final release of LongHorn under whatever name they decide to call it. As these changes are made, problems could start, so who knows when the final release come out.

No, I don't work for MS. I'm a retired airline employee. Just passing on what I have seen from using it on a daily basis in this machine.

Much will be said about MS when they release the new system, some good and much bad. At this point, we can only wait and see.

cheers, mac

[SuperSparks]

I think you'll find that you've got a pre-alpha copy of Longhorn there Mac, no betas have been released yet - is it build 4074?

I've been invited onto the Beta testing program, and I'm really looking forward to it. IMHO Longhorn is going to be a great OS. I honestly believe that it will be as much of a milestone as Windows 95 was.

[Søul]

To be honest, I would like to pick it up right away, but waiting awhile is probably the smart way to go. I hate waiting! *sigh*

...if they decide to try the software/chip security they played with a short time ago,they can count me out. I'll stay with XP-Pro and 'no' third party hardware containing this chip or anything similar would be purchased for any of 'my' builds!

OS Longhorn is the first release of Windows to implement Microsoft´s vision of boosting security by placing cryptographic keys in special silicon chips that would be built into PC`s.

^Is this the security chip that you don't like? I searched for a bit, but couldn't find a real description of it. How is it supposed to work and why is it disliked?


Hypothetical: If you had a hand in the building of Longhorn, what would you add or take out? IE: What would be important to you in a 'perfect' OS?

BTW, HERE'S MORE BILL!... http://news.search.yahoo.com/news/se...8&fr=slv1-msgr

[SuperSparks]

There's both a good side and a potentially bad side to having a security chip. There has been the usual hype about how it will take away control of the PC from people, but without a shred of evidence that it wioll be implemented that way. But other computer hardware has used hardware security chips for a long time without it ever being an issue. One thing is for sure, MS are not stupid as a company, and they won't spend millions of dollars developing an OS that no-one would buy, especially with Linux gaining in popularity. I would take all these stories about how Longhorn will lock down the PC with a very large grain of salt.

[DrMDJ]

IMHO Longhorn is going to be a great OS. I honestly believe that it will be as much of a milestone as Windows 95 was.

Keeping with the context of this forum, it would be worthwhile hearing some more detailed elaboration on this I think.

[greengoose1]

I will wait and see if the OS is really an improvement or not. On several things regarding computers I do not run right out and spend money because the ads tell me too.

[Ridgerunr]

Søul,(and anyone else interested),concerning the security chip,have a read here: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/...in690664.shtml

A comment was made by M$ that security would be boosted by cryptographic keys being placed on silicon chips? Seems to me there was a worm written quite some time back that would be capable of infecting the EEPROM chip on a PC. In fact,I'm very familiar with 'that' nasty because it infected my Daughters PC. Only way out was to replace the chip. Thank heavens it was found before it totally destroyed the system!

[Jubal]

I hope they don't plan on keeping the black and grey colors. Hope users will be able to set their own color schemes. I can't read anything very well on a black background.

[zipulrich]

I've used build #4074, and am also waiting for the next release. Some things I wasn't crazy about, but overall it's a solid OS (so far...).

[Søul]

A comment was made by M$ that security would be boosted by cryptographic keys being placed on silicon chips?

Yep. Right HERE. The 4th paragraph from the top. Thanks for the link to that CBS News article. From what I understood, the chip will only protect against someone that has physical access to your computer. I thought it was going to be a system wide type of security; like a software suite. As long as it's more secure than the one you had problems with I wouldn't mind having the extra startup protection. Hopefully MS will have taken care of any bugs in it by the time the new OS is released.

I hope they don't plan on keeping the black and grey colors. Hope users will be able to set their own color schemes. I can't read anything very well on a black background.

I kind of like it, but it would be awsome if you could go into the display settings and have about 10 different themes to choose from.


I was reading some more and I can't believe all of the new "Stuff" that's going to be in the new OS. A lot of it is over my head but it sounds like MS is going all out. Virtual folders, new file system, a new PDF reader called Metro, etc., etc., etc. Technology continually amazes me. How do day do dat?! lol

Like DrMDJ said, It'd be cool to hear some more detailed descriptions of this "stuff". It's very interesting to me. Cool shyt man. Thanks for the replies so far.

[SuperSparks]

Here's an interesting article on the hardware requirements:

http://news.com.com/Longhorn+will+ru...op&tag=nl.e703