a hitchhikers guide to Longhorn and winhec.
While those of us that couldn't attend wait for the presentations to show up on the web and scour through weblogs to catch a glimpse of the presentations.
I find it disheartening that there Seems to be a SERIOUS lack of understanding of the computer industry in the blogosphere.
First, maybe it is because I worked for 11 years in the semiconductor industry. have built a working 4 bit Computer from discrete compo nets. wrote interfaces between robots and the main system over rs232. I don't know if it is my hardware centric back ground that makes that difference. but when I look at the Name of a Conference that Says Windows Hardware and Engineering conference. I am expecting to get information on the boring stuff of computing. Boring but the Most important as this is the foundation that makes the exiting stuff possible.
While at PDC 2k3 and WinHec 2004 we were presented with a first showing of what MS wanted LH to be. (most of us then said it was to big of a chunk) a few things have changed in that time period.
We know that we were told that. so expecting that LH was further along (which it is in several areas btw) would be a fools goal. Most of the LH developers were repositioned to get SP2 out the door. and drive the sp1 support in 2k3.
But back to the point. Most of the new exiting stuff coming in LH build on the new support in the kernel. Express and Glass for aero will not work without LDDM drivers for example. The new File Filter stack in LH will require new filters written for it. (think all your AntiVirus, and other file filters. but even lower than that is the optimized streaming optimization made in the kernel for the file system.
Winhec is all about getting hardware vendors on board to write drivers to support these changes. They don't need to see the final outcome of what is planned they just need to see enough to know that it will be worth while to support it.
My main disappointment with WinHec 2k5 is that WDF wasn't at a final format so that Hardware vendors are not writing old style drivers for xp x64 and the x64 bit servers. then turn around later to write wdf based drivers. especially those that could be User Mode Drivers now to get them out of the kernel and increase stability.
One of the folks asked why to upgrade to LH a while back. with so many features going down level now (speaking of winfx, avalon and Indigo)
One of the Main reasons to upgrade to LH will be the significant upgrades coming the kernel. Running a winfx app on LH as compared to xp and 2k3 will be no comparison. especially if you need to use any streaming technology.
Beta 1 will be a step in the right direction although it will generally still be in the lower levels of the OS. PDC build will be closer to what is expected for general consumption and of course Beta 2 will be feature complete(feature complete doesn't not mean spit and polished).