Windows Longhorn Beta Screenshots

[joule]

This week tech-heads have been abuzz about Microsoft's invitation to its special beta testers to start testing the beta version of the next Windows, codenamed 'Longhorn'. You can find more details of recent Longhorn happenings at IEXBeta.com, and you can check out leaked screenshots of the latest Longhorn Build 5203 here.

 

[Icarusintel]

mmmmmm.... me wants Longhorn.... wonder if the beta's up for d/l....

 

[duffers20]

Looks cool! WIll have to look out that longhorn theme I have!

 

[No Limit]

Is it just me or does it look the same as a skinned windows XP machine? From the screenshots this looks to me like a windows 98 to windows ME upgrade.

 

[Icarusintel]

hmmm... looking at it some more, wasn;t it supposed to have a 3d spherical type desktop?

 

[^Ben]

No, most of the UI improvements havent been put in to the beta 1, because the OSS community will copy it.

Most of the improvements are in the the actual OS not the UI.

Just look at the betas for windows XP to see what they do.

 

[Ti133700N]

So in MS Longhorn, they will change the appearance of the recycle bin of WinXP and sell it $250 ?

 

[Foxtrot]

So in MS Longhorn, they will change the appearance of the recycle bin of WinXP and sell it $250 ?

Yes, that is exactly what they are doing, dumbass.

 

[giant384]

So in MS Longhorn, they will change the appearance of the recycle bin of WinXP and sell it $250 ?

rofl that would be funny but its also a 64bit OS

 

[^Ben]

http://winsupersite.com/reviews/whistler_preview.asp

Whistler was the codename for windows XP, this shows how much can change from early concepts to final builds.

 

[DiSTuRbEd]

Longhorn beta test will occur Summer 06.

 

[baron insig]

longhorn is server pased, there is already a xp pro corporate 64 edition, i have it downstairs

and it isnt a beta, dad works for technet got it all free. only reason im not running it is cos of dodge driver support

 

[No Limit]

Yes, that is exactly what they are doing, dumbass.

And I figured you were only this vocal on the politics board.

It seems to me that longhorn will be a huge pain when it first comes out but eventually people will be forced to upgrade and get used to it like they did with WinXP. Anyone remember when XP came out? Everyone hated it.

 

[Foxtrot]

And I figured you were only this vocal on the politics board.

It seems to me that longhorn will be a huge pain when it first comes out but eventually people will be forced to upgrade and get used to it like they did with WinXP. Anyone remember when XP came out? Everyone hated it.

Stupid posts get stupid replies, you should take note of this for the politics forum.

 

[Chris D]

You two will seriously find yourself both spending time away from this forum if you can't stop bickering with each other. If you're not bickering on the politics forum, you're bickering here as well. Pack it in./

 

[joule]

A Brief Article at Tom's Hardware describes some early findings about Longhorn's built-in modding/tweaking features. It looks like Microsoft is not going to make Longhorn untweakable, and is going to cater to modders and power gamers by giving us the tools we need to do the job. This is a very good sign, and I was a little worried for a while there that MS would take the 'black box' approach to Longhorn and make it completely uncustomizeable and aimed only at the average user.

 

[OCybrManO]

It seems to me that longhorn will be a huge pain when it first comes out but eventually people will be forced to upgrade and get used to it like they did with WinXP. Anyone remember when XP came out? Everyone hated it.

You're not forced to run Windows XP. I am going to be completely skipping the XP phase. I've been running Windows 2000 Professional flawlessly for years and nothing convinced me that I needed XP. There have only been a couple of things I couldn't run that were made for XP, it's stable, it's still receiving updates, and there not a huge jump in features. On the other hand, just having native support for 64-bit processors alone is enough of a reason for me to upgrade.

Also, did anyone notice how the transparent parts of the inactive windows blurred the things that showed through them? I thought that was neat. It's visible in the first screenshot, among others...

 

[giant384]

well xp was built from 2000 so u should just wait intil u have to upgrade for 64bit proccesing

 

[NeptuneUK]

I wouldnt mind if it looked EXACTLY like XP as long as it performed better and did some more cool useless stuff, oh and pinball!

 

[No Limit]

You're not forced to run Windows XP. I am going to be completely skipping the XP phase. I've been running Windows 2000 Professional flawlessly for years and nothing convinced me that I needed XP. There have only been a couple of things I couldn't run that were made for XP, it's stable, it's still receiving updates, and there not a huge jump in features. On the other hand, just having native support for 64-bit processors alone is enough of a reason for me to upgrade.

Also, did anyone notice how the transparent parts of the inactive windows blurred the things that showed through them? I thought that was neat. It's visible in the first screenshot, among others...

Well in many ways you are forced to. Every new computer you buy comes with XP and since I work as the tech at my company I am forced to be familiar with the XP standard; only 2 or 3 computers here still use 98. Windows 2000/2003 is perfectly fine and I use it on our server; however, I personally would use it on a home PC because of compatibility issues with games and hardware.

 

[Chris D]

Well I'm definitely looking forward to Longhorn. I always do when a major new Windows OS comes out.

 

[sinkoman]

Well I'm definitely looking forward to Longhorn. I always do when a major new Windows OS comes out.

I'm not.

More money spendage? No thanks. I'm sticking with XP till something interesting happens while Longhorn's out.

 

[Kyorisu]

Well I'm definitely looking forward to Longhorn. I always do when a major new Windows OS comes out.

Longhorn is the biggest resource whore yet. Don't get your hopes up. I still dual boot XP and Gentoo.

 

[sinkoman]

Longhorn is the biggest resource whore yet. Don't get your hopes up. I still dual boot XP and Gentoo.

And you know this how?

 

[xLostx]

im only impressed that the PC running longhorn has 2 gigs of ram

 

[EC]

Longhorn is the biggest resource whore yet. Don't get your hopes up. I still dual boot XP and Gentoo.

Which is why it has a high memory recommendation. It's not going to run on 128MB of ram.
If I want to even try to run Longhorn, I'll have to upgrade my CPU and ram definately.

 

[Cole]

Longhorn is the biggest resource whore yet. Don't get your hopes up. I still dual boot XP and Gentoo.

Well it's not like were stuck at 4gigs of ram anymore when longhorn comes out.

You must be a wizard..I mean how else would you know that Longhorn is the biggest reesource whore yet.

Let me guess...because it's from Microsoft. Well thats just stupid. XP is great. 2000 is great. ME....well that sucked...98 was great...95 was great... 3.1...well I never really used that.

 

[duffers20]

There are all these rumours going around that longhorn is going to need 2gb of ram, 6ghz cpu's etc (well thats alittle bit of an exaggeration) but I think that there was a misunderstanding of what is actually needed and what it can run, some people thought that it would need 4gb of ram when the actual fact was that it could support that amount of ram but could run on alot less. I have seen the minimum requirements somewhere and It wasn't any thing really special. I will try and find the link.

 

[3ssence]

Well I'm definitely looking forward to Longhorn. I always do when a major new Windows OS comes out.

I have to say that i'm quite looking forward to it too. Not entirely sure why as i'm mostly a games/internet/msn/mirc type of guy as far as computers are concerned, but i guess i fancy something fresh tbh, and updated visual interface etc.... would be nice

:E

 

[JellyWorld]

I wouldnt mind if it looked EXACTLY like XP as long as it performed better and did some more cool useless stuff, oh and pinball!

pfft MS has the worst games of any OS I've seen. Apple had Marble Blast Gold, FC3 had Tux Racer and Windows had... Solitaire?

 

[OCybrManO]

pfft MS has the worst games of any OS I've seen. Apple had Marble Blast Gold, FC3 had Tux Racer and Windows had... Solitaire?

Freecell, Minesweeper, Pinball, and Solitaire... get it right!

... but seriously, we don't buy an OS because it comes with non-craptacular games. We use it because it supports all of the good games. Sure, you may have a better set of starting games on the Mac... but the amount of AAA-quality, commercial games you can run on it is severely lacking.

 

[Triggerhappy41]

everyone is freaking out. In all reality, you will probably be able to squeek by with 256 megs of ram, 512 preferred, 2 gigs recommended for any gaming/design, just like with Xp you can squeek by with 128 megs, 256 preferred, and one gig recommended for any gaming or design.

Ram is cheap, its not that big of a deal guys.

Of course its going to use more rescources, if you are all still keen on how much rescources your os is using, why not run 98 or linux? Get your heads out of your asses, more resource usage means MORE FEATURES.

Remember with 98 you would have to reboot every damn time you installed drivers, and in XP things IMMENSELY improved with windows basically doing the work for you? The point is, MS makes quality software (except Millenium Ed.), whether you hate them or not, and it looks like this latest edition of windows will be the best yet (especially since they are gearing some features towards gamers/customizers)

Go buy a mac and see how you like it.

 

[sinkoman]

Ram is cheap, its not that big of a deal guys.

Maybe the craptacular ram that YOU bought.

My 1 gig duall channel kit cost me near 200 USD.

 

[joule]

Wow.

http://www.microsoft-watch.com/article2/0,2180,1838263,00.asp

 

[duffers20]

Wow.

http://www.microsoft-watch.com/article2/0,2180,1838263,00.asp

Makes quite interesting reading. Nice posting.

 

[Fliko]

No, most of the UI improvements havent been put in to the beta 1, because the OSS community will copy it.

Most of the improvements are in the the actual OS not the UI.

Just look at the betas for windows XP to see what they do.

Thank god... I could mod Windows XP to look like that. I almost thought I would be better off doing so, but it seems what you said is true. Can't wait.

allow users to patch systems with 50 percent fewer reboots required

Finally! Best thing I heard about a window's upgrade... eva!

 

[Gray Fox]

I just can´t wait for longhorn and palladium)now under a different name, and combine that with the new TCPA intel chips, and it´s going to be wonderfull
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2002/06/24/ms_drm_os_retagged_secure/
http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~rja14/tcpa-faq.html
http://reviews-zdnet.com.com/4520-6033_16-4207427.html
http://www.epic.org/privacy/consumer/microsoft/palladium.html)it (has good links)