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Official Site: http://msdn.microsoft.com/longhorn

This site is designed to bring you the first looks at the new in-development operating system from Microsoft currently code-named 'Longhorn'. I recently had the rare privilege of being able to use Longhorn first hand. I was looking at Longhorn build 4051 Evaluation Edition, released to subscribers of MSDN and other developers at the Microsoft Professional Developers Conference (PDC) in 2003.

This Mini-site will bring you information about Longhorn and related technologies such as Whidbey, the latest development suite from Microsoft following on from Microsoft .NET Studio.

Take a look at some of these links for further information on Windows Code Name Longhorn, or continue down this page for some screenshots of Longhorn.

Links on Longhorn:
The official MSDN site for Longhorn:	http://msdn.microsoft.com/longhorn
The official MSDN site for Whidbey:	http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/whidbey/
Blogs of Longhorn/Whidbey Developers:	http://www.longhornblogs.com
Longhorn News from Neowin:	http://www.neowin.net

If you are looking to get started in Longhorn:
MSDN TV:	http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdntv/archive.aspx
	(I strongly recommend This Video)
Making Longhorn work on VirtualPC 5.x:	http://users.pandora.be/ald...PC.htm


Windows Code Name Longhorn Screenshots & Captions:
(Click the images for a larger view. Warning: Please do not copy these images without asking!)
	The Longhorn build 4051 PDC CD Autorun screen on Windows 2000 Server.
Booting Windows Code Name Longhorn
	The initial GUI setup screen. Longhorn Setup runs with a Windows Embedded Edition created image.
Running Windows Longhorn Setup
	The new GUI partitioning and formatting screen. (Still no RAID support from the outset)
The new Longon Screen. Notice 'Logon as other user' gives you an old-style login prompt.
	The default out-of-the-box configuration Desktop with new Sidebar (notice no tray whilst sidebar is on)
The new 'Windows Security' dialogue appears on CTRL+ALT+DEL instead of Task Manager. 'Lock Computer' has returned, same as 'Switch Users' in XP.
	The new 'noddy' Device Manager. The old style Device Manager is still available through Management Console. I want to know the criteria for a 'Healthy PC'.
Enhanced Task Scheduler, tones and tones more options, you can schedule Longhorn to make your tea now on the condition that there is electricity to the kettle. :-)
	New Storage Types for the filing system. This is the contacts storage type which cunningly imported my MSN contacts behind the scenes. See MSDN TV: "WinFS Overview" for details on WinFS and storage types.
The Castle Service. (Very excited about this one!) Brings miniaturized features of a domain to a workgroup, providing centralized profiles across a home/small office network. Microsoft don't have much on Castle yet, there will be more in the future.
	Browsing the MSDN site with upgrades in Internet Explorer. This will probably be a more focused-on issue in future releases of Longhorn.
Microsoft ship an in-the-box compiler with Longhorn called MSBuild.exe. This compiler uses XAML-like .proj files to direct the operation which makes compiling smooth sailing now.

Thats all for now! Check back as I will be updating this site as I learn more about Longhorn. It looks like an exciting project, the new 'Pillars' of Longhorn (Avilon, Indigo and WinFS) have a lot of potential in them and I'm sure developers will be making use of that potential.
Please read the MSDN Longhorn site and particularly watch the MSDN TV episodes on Longhorn technologies, they are incredibly eye-opener.

Please note: A lot of people ask where they can get Longhorn "for free". Firstly, Longhorn is experimental technology. It is not even at the alpha testing stages yet, let alone customer preview. There are still a lot of bugs, it doesn't work well under experimental conditions, let alone production conditions.
Unless you are a developer, at this point you really don't want or need a copy of Longhorn, trust me! Wait for the Customer Preview programs or better still, the release, then you'll want it. You have to do a lot of work just to get Longhorn installed and working.
If you are a developer and you want Longhorn/Whidbey, you need to be an MSDN Subscriber. You can then request MSDN to ship you out a CD. Why not get your company IT department to subscribe, it'll save you personally the costs.
Alternatively, wait for another developers conference from Microsoft, there will possibly be evaluations of Longhorn builds available for developers there.
Alpha Systems does not support or condone pirating/cracking/hacking or other illegal activities that breach Microsoft's License Agreement, please don't ask us for a copy of Longhorn.

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