Longhorn packed with changes
ENT News | at | by Mike
Longhorn's major themes are strengthening operating system fundamentals, overhauling the presentation layer, building in radical enhancements to the file system and embracing Web services in internal and external communications.
A widely circulated chart at the PDC lays out these pillars in large blocks with their associated code-names. Fundamentals, a.k.a. Base OS Services, lies at the bottom of the chart, supporting all the other enhancements. Resting on top of Fundamentals are three equal-size blocks: "Avalon" for the presentation layer, "WinFS" for storage and "Indigo" for communication. Atop the whole structure is WinFX, which Microsoft group vice president Jim Allchin describes as "the step beyond Win32" programming.