Microsoft Window Longhorn

In 2006, Microsoft is slated to release a new version of its Windows operating system. "Longhorn" is the code name for the next version of Windows. This generation of software will include new versions of Windows, Windows Server, .NET, MSN, Microsoft Office, and other products. Microsoft labels the key new technologies as "The Pillars of Longhorn," which are:
• Fundamentals: new developments to the basic structure of the operating system including the .NET framework, further support for digital rights management (DRM), an application deployment engine ("ClickOnce"), improvements to the installation of applications (Windows Installer/MSI 4.0), and the Trustworthy Computing initiative (trusted computing).
• Avalon: a new user interface subsystem and API based on XML, .NET, and vector graphics, which will make use of 3D computer graphics hardware and Direct3D technologies.
• Indigo: a service-oriented messaging system to allow programs to interoperate as part of the .NET framework.
• WinFX: a new API to allow access to these new features, replacing the current "Win32" API
Additionally, Longhorn will include many other new features:
• a completely re-designed user interface, code-named Aero. The new interface is intended to be cleaner and more aesthetically pleasing than previous Windows interfaces. The most visible addition to the interface is the sidebar, an area at the side of the screen consisting of tiles which display dynamic information about whatever window is currently in the foreground, which is essentially an extension of the "system tray" on the Windows task bar. Note that the sidebar had been removed as part of the WinHEC 2005 release (Build 5048).
• a new command-line interface called MSH, and codenamed Monad. It combines the Unix pipes and filters philosophy with that of object-oriented programming.
• full support for the "NX" (No-Execute) feature of processors. This feature, present in AMD's AMD64 architecture, as well as Intel's EM64T... [continues]

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