Off topic Longhorn preview!
- From: "Jim Talley" <nrg.jim@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 10 May 2005 05:52:18 -0600
I can tell you that Longhorn is far from complete, but what I saw looked great.
Longhorn is the working title for the long-awaited next version of Windows,
XP's replacement. Microsoft hasn't announced a final name or firm ship date,
but the company now says that Longhorn [JT1] won't be out before late next
year. And even then, it will lack some previously-announced features; most
notably
the improved
WinFS file system.
Pretty Pictures
The first thing you notice after booting this Longhorn alpha is the beautiful
icons. Many, including the main ones, like folders, drives, and Computer (the
"My" has been dropped), are richer, more detailed, and more three-dimensional.
But that's just the beginning. Open the Start menu and Click "All Programs".
Instead of the familiar cascading menu, the left panel changes into a list
of all your programs, expandable by clicking the folder icons of what used to
be submenus. If you
Want to go to a program that's not visible? The list is scrollable, but you can
also move quickly by simply typing appropriate letters. This typing won't
bring you to programs listed in submenus unless those submenus are expanded. Of
course, you can expand a submenu by typing the first few letters of its
name, then pressing "Enter" once it's highlighted.
If you keep your Start Menu well-organized, with lots of submenus inside
submenus, this setup will be more of a hassle than a convenience. But most
people
will probably find it an improvement.
Another nice improvement: A Run text box is located right there on the Start
menu.
Exploring Longhorn's Explorer
You'll also find major improvements in Windows Explorer.
Longhorn uses bar charts to display the amount of used and empty space on
displayed drives.
First, all the displayed drives have bar charts showing their used and empty
space. Look closer, and you may notice the lack of drive letters. Longhorn
isn't about to show you any DOS-like paths unless you ask for them. (But yes,
they're there if you need them.)
Longhorn uses bar charts to display the amount of used and empty space on
displayed drives.
Go into a drive, and then into some folders, and you'll discover that the
Address Bar also avoids anything DOS-like. Instead, it displays the path as a
series of pull-down menus, one for each folder above the current one. You can
pull down any of these for quick navigation around your PC.
Here's something very cool: Click the View icon on the Standard Button bar and
you'll get a slider that lets you zoom in and out for a closer or wider view
of your icons (which are often views of your files rather than symbols of their
file types). It also lets you switch between the various familiar views.
A new bar, on the bottom of the Explorer window, displays the properties of the
file you've selected.
A new bar, on the bottom of the Explorer window, displays the properties of the
file you've selected, including metadata (information about the file, such
as its author, keywords, comments, and so forth). You can edit this metadata
from Explorer, which will hopefully encourage more people to use it, making
searches easier and all the more powerful.
Searching for Possibilities
Easier and
more powerful searches
are a large part of what Longhorn is about, even without the WinFS file system.
In Longhorn, Explorer displays column heads for easy sorting, even when it's
not in Details view. And these column heads do a lot more than sort. Click,
say, the date header, and you'll get a drop-down menu that clearly spells out
the "Oldest on top" and "Newest on top" options, and also lets you choose
to only view files altered today, last week, or last July.
Need a better search than that? Explorer also has a quick search bar and a
Windows 2000-like searching panel (in other words, no disgustingly cute dog).
Or try the new, full search tool. It helps you set up filters, one after
another, until you've refined your search to exactly what you need. You could,
for instance, look for files containing the text "warthogs are difficult to
train," with file names ending in "bob," modified on or before April 29, 2005,
that are larger than 15,000 bytes. And you can just keep adding criteria.
Of course, it will take a lot more than better searches and an improved user
interface to get people to upgrade their operating system. Perhaps, when
Longhorn
finally arrives, we'll actually get an easy, stable, fast, and secure version
of Windows.
Then again, maybe not.
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Topics >
Software >
Windows >
Longhorn >
We Take Longhorn for a Test-Drive
After examining the alpha version of Microsoft's new OS, we like what we see.
Lincoln Spector, special to PC World
Friday, April 29, 2005
This week, Microsoft released a developers' alpha version of Longhorn at
Windows Hardware Engineering Conference (WinHEC). After playing with it for a
few
hours, I can tell you that Longhorn is far from complete, but what I saw looked
great.
Advertisement
Click here to find out more! frame
Click here to find out more!
Click here to find out more! frame end
Longhorn is the working title for the long-awaited next version of Windows,
XP's replacement. Microsoft hasn't announced a final name or firm ship date,
but the company now says that Longhorn won't be out before late next year. And
even then, it will lack some previously-announced features; most notably
the improved
WinFS file system.
Pretty Pictures
The first thing you notice after booting this Longhorn alpha is the beautiful
icons. Many, including the main ones, like folders, drives, and Computer (the
"My" has been dropped), are richer, more detailed, and more three-dimensional.
Click here to view full-size image.
But that's just the beginning. Open the Start menu and Click "All Programs".
Instead of the familiar cascading menu, the left panel changes into a list
of all your programs, expandable by clicking the folder icons of what used to
be submenus.
Click here to view full-size image.
Want to go to a program that's not visible? The list is scrollable, but you can
also move quickly by simply typing appropriate letters. This typing won't
bring you to programs listed in submenus unless those submenus are expanded. Of
course, you can expand a submenu by typing the first few letters of its
name, then pressing "Enter" once it's highlighted.
If you keep your Start Menu well-organized, with lots of submenus inside
submenus, this setup will be more of a hassle than a convenience. But most
people
will probably find it an improvement.
Another nice improvement: A Run text box is located right there on the Start
menu.
Exploring Longhorn's Explorer
You'll also find major improvements in Windows Explorer.
Click here to view full-size image.Longhorn uses bar charts to display the
amount of used and empty space on displayed drives.
First, all the displayed drives have bar charts showing their used and empty
space. Look closer, and you may notice the lack of drive letters. Longhorn
isn't about to show you any DOS-like paths unless you ask for them. (But yes,
they're there if you need them.)
Click here to view full-size image.Longhorn uses bar charts to display the
amount of used and empty space on displayed drives.
Go into a drive, and then into some folders, and you'll discover that the
Address Bar also avoids anything DOS-like. Instead, it displays the path as a
series of pull-down menus, one for each folder above the current one. You can
pull down any of these for quick navigation around your PC.
Here's something very cool: Click the View icon on the Standard Button bar and
you'll get a slider that lets you zoom in and out for a closer or wider view
of your icons (which are often views of your files rather than symbols of their
file types). It also lets you switch between the various familiar views.
Click here to view full-size image.A new bar, on the bottom of the Explorer
window, displays the properties of the file you've selected.
A new bar, on the bottom of the Explorer window, displays the properties of the
file you've selected, including metadata (information about the file, such
as its author, keywords, comments, and so forth). You can edit this metadata
from Explorer, which will hopefully encourage more people to use it, making
searches easier and all the more powerful.
Searching for Possibilities
Easier and
more powerful searches
are a large part of what Longhorn is about, even without the WinFS file system.
In Longhorn, Explorer displays column heads for easy sorting, even when it's
not in Details view. And these column heads do a lot more than sort. Click,
say, the date header, and you'll get a drop-down menu that clearly spells out
the "Oldest on top" and "Newest on top" options, and also lets you choose
to only view files altered today, last week, or last July.
Need a better search than that? Explorer also has a quick search bar and a
Windows 2000-like searching panel (in other words, no disgustingly cute dog).
Or try the new, full search tool. It helps you set up filters, one after
another, until you've refined your search to exactly what you need. You could,
for instance, look for files containing the text "warthogs are difficult to
train," with file names ending in "bob," modified on or before April 29, 2005,
that are larger than 15,000 bytes. And you can just keep adding criteria.
Of course, it will take a lot more than better searches and an improved user
interface to get people to upgrade their operating system. Perhaps, when
Longhorn
finally arrives, we'll actually get an easy, stable, fast, and secure version
of Windows.
Then again, maybe not.
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