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If You Squint Really Hard …
Microsoft unveils the new Longhorn version of Windows, but the details are a little hazy.
by John Zipperer

Posted November 20, 2003

	John Zipperer Executive Editor

It should; it looks like Apple OSX.

There is a temptation to urge Microsoft to get Yukon out the door before dangling Longhorn before our eyes, but such a reaction misses the point of such previews. It's the glimpse of features and the guiding philosophy behind the changes Microsoft is making with its flagship product that are more important than the look of the screen or other details. That preview should give cheer to readers of Windows Server System Magazine, but it is still way too early to see how Microsoft will realize them when the finished product rolls out a few years hence.

Next month, we'll have a deeper look at Longhorn and how its major components will affect you. We'll also kick off a year of in-depth coverage of the Yukon edition of SQL Server. But what can we say about the future of Microsoft's products right now? It's fair to say that Microsoft is promising to respond to user concerns and complaints by making its systems faster, easier to maintain, more secure in operation, and able to leverage Web services technology to tie together every part of the enterprise.

Is that vague enough?

Anyone attending these events needs to learn to live with a certain level of vagueness. In my view, there are two valuable reasons for this type of business-customer gathering: The company can do some blue-sky promising (which lets us see where the product line is heading in general), and the customers can give direct feedback.

That feedback is crucial for product improvement. Across the table from me in the PDC pressroom sat writer Jerry Pournelle. He was there representing a computer publication, but to a book geek like me, he's first and foremost a major science-fiction writer. (The cheek of having a fiction writer covering a conference where nebulous future product promises are made is exquisite, and I wish WSS Magazine had thought of it.)

As I watched the Living Science Fiction Legend complain about an uncooperative Microsoft application on his computer, I decided that every company should have a structured setting for unstructured meetings with its customers. It's better to complain to someone who actually builds the products than to a bunch of other reporters, who only smirk.

Many Microsoft executives have stressed that their company is responding to user feedback in the creation of the products it is rolling out over the next few years. Manageability is one of the biggest complaints, and from what we've seen so far of its products, it looks safe to say that new versions will indeed reflect a considerable improvement. But in my view, security will be the test of whether customer needs are really driving the process. Every time I hear people excuse Microsoft security flaws because its position in the market makes it a big target, I think they're giving the software maker a free pass. If it's a target, then it simply has to get better.

Luckily, the security story sounds promising. What I heard in L.A. was that the company's been addressing security from the fundamentals through every stage of product development. That's vague conference talk, but Bill Gates gave some specifics. He talked about improving Microsoft's distribution of fixes to customers and increasing the types of error messages that servers automatically report to Redmond, Wash. It's a good start.

Microsoft says it's listening and responding to your feedback. You can have a big role in determining just what Longhorn really looks like when it is finally commercialized. So make sure you provide plenty of feedback. And if Microsoft is not responding to it, let us know.

Talkback
What features and developments in Longhorn or Yukon interest you the most? How much is the finished product likely to resemble what we're seeing today? Tell us at .

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