Longhorn Ties Platform Apps to Core Operating System: Will Microsoft’s New OS Be a Developer’s Dream-Come-True?

Call it all-tools-for-all-things-Microsoft. That’s the way I’m beginning to think about Longhorn, Microsoft’s next-generation operating system, expected in 2006. The operating system will herald more than just the transition of mainstream computing to 64 bits. It will mark the emergence of a new, multifaceted programming model. Breaking away from traditional computer science taxonomy, where operating systems stood barely removed from the hardware abstraction layer, Longhorn will be more like a multi-tentacled container for a wide range of administration and application tools.