Longhorn’s features
Longhorn is losing features right and left; WinFS has been given the axe, and now Monad has been cut. A /. post summarizes the remaining new features in Longhorn. And they sound surprisingly similar to the upcoming features in Linux/free Unix desktops…
| Longhorn feature | free Unix desktop feature |
|---|---|
| Avalon: a new user interface subsystem and API based on XML, .NET, and vector graphics. | In the short term, free Unix is getting Qt4 (with its Arthur rendering engine), E17’s Ewl with its ridiculously beautiful Evas, and the Cairo-ized Gtk+ 2.8. In the long term, there is the completely vectorized Gtk+ 3. User interfaces defined by a scripting language (Glade, Designer, XUL, etc.) have been used on the free Unix desktop for ages. |
| Indigo: a service-oriented messaging system to allow programs to interoperate as part of the .NET framework. | D-BUS |
| WinFX: a new API replacing the current Win32 API (there’s of course still Win32 + Win64) | Unlike Win32, current Linux/free Unix API’s don’t suck golf balls through garden hoses. |
| .NET framework 2.0 (the foundation for Longhorn) | Mono and Parrot. |
| WGF - Windows Graphic Foundations DirectX 10 which will further merge pixel and vertex shaders and introduce new technologies for 3D rendering. |
ARB extensions to OpenGL 2 and GLX |
| Lower user privileges (IE 7 will run in these on Longhorn) | Had these since 1970 |
| Included compiler (msbuild) | gcc 4 |
| New driver model and improved kernel/driver loading (drivers get “unloaded” in realtime if they become unstable) - also drivers get loaded quicker in the boot process so you can enjoy higher res/color depth while booting - also improved is boot speed and install time. | ? |
| New MS Installer | Autopackage, DEB, RPM |
| New document format competitive to PDF | Good old PDF, and SVG |
| An application deployment engine (”ClickOnce”) | Portage, apt, and yum |
| Improvements in the ClearType font rendering technology + new system fonts | Freetype, XRender, and Bitstream |
| New desktop search capabillities | rlocate |
| Improved security through lower privileged accounts and services | Had this since 1970 |
| Full support for the “NX” (No-Execute) feature of processors | Had this for a while |
| New graphic user interface (Aero) using vector graphics for rendering | E17 and XGL (and KDE 4 and Gnome 3 in the future) |
Mayhap the penguin has nothing to fear…