Full article: http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104_2-5097537.html
Gates trots out Longhorn

By Ina Fried
CNET News.com
October 27, 2003, 10:46 AM PT

LOS ANGELES--Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates tried to win over developers here
Monday as he offered the first look at Longhorn, the next version of
Windows.
Longhorn is built around three major advances--a new graphics and
presentation engine known as Avalon, a new communications architecture known
as Indigo, and a new file system known as WinFS that borrows from
Microsoft's relational database technology.
...
Among the features shown off were transparent windows, animated windows that
pop open and a new taskbar on the righthand side of the screen that
displayed a clock, buddy list, and news and other information streamed onto
the desktop via an RSS feed.

Using the relational database built into the file system, information can be
viewed in new ways, such as in "stacks" based on a single common attribute.
Although the concept is similar to that of folders, it is more ad hoc than
the folder design and is meant to facilitate having one piece of information
in several stacks.

The graphics are powered by a new XML-based graphics and presentation engine
known as Avalon that builds into the operating system and expands some of
Microsoft's existing technologies like DirectX and ClearType.

The graphical look of Longhorn--particularly its transparency and animated
windows--are reminiscent of Apple's Mac OS X. Other features, such as the
thumbnail image that pops up while users are scrolling through a long
document, appear to be all-new ideas.
...
Back to the future
Trying to show off both Longhorn's backward compatibility and its
possibilities for the future, Microsoft product unit manager Hillel
Cooperman presented the operating system running VisiCalc, the 20-year-old
spreadsheet program, as well as a demo application that drew on all of the
operating system's new features to grab and display content from the
Internet and video, drawing on the operating system's search, graphics and
Web services engines.
...
Following Gates on stage, Allchin showed off more of Longhorn's technical
features, including a reporting feature that he said offers developers the
equivalent of a "flight data recorder" to track the operation of their
applications.
<wiseAss>No more Dr. Watson!  Just recover the flight data
recorder...</wiseAss>
...
With that goal in mind, Microsoft highlighted some new tools for developers,
most notably WinFX, which the company described as a new application
programming model and an evolution of its .Net Framework, as well as "XAML"
(pronounced "zamel"), a new language that Allchin said would allow
developers to create Longhorn applications in a "declarative" way.

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