Microsoft Windows Vienna
Hardly a month after releasing its latest operating system, Windows Vista than Microsoft is set to work on its new operating system, Windows Vienna. Although specific details of this new operating system are not available, it will take 2½ years before the users can lay their hands on it.Microsoft Next major launch of windows versions is Windows Vienna.this is going to be done by 2009, since Microsoft has been working on this since before Vista development started, and it was only pushed back since it was too ambitious a goal to make in time for a normal release. And since it was obvious that XP needed to be replaced with something more secure, Vista was a stopgap that included a lot of the technologies that were slated for Vienna (known before as Blackcomb).
The next major version of Windows client set to follow Windows Vista is no longer known as "Blackcomb." The new name is "Vienna," Microsoft officials have confirmed. Tech evangelist Robert Scoble let the Vienna cat out of the bag over on Channel 9. We were skeptical, given the fact that Microsoft recently used the Vienna name to refer to Live Communications Server 2005. But here's the official statement from a company spokesman: "The codename for Blackcomb has changed to 'Vienna'. This does not reflect a big change for us; we have used city code names in the past. These code names are derived from cities/locations in the world known for great 'vistas'. The kinds of places we all want to see, experience and that capture the imagination. Vienna fits with this concept. There are no additional details to share about Vienna at this time."
Blackcomb was always supposed to be a successor to Whistler (XP) which is obvious in the name alone - Whistler and Blackcomb are two mountains in British Columbia. Longhorn was thrown into the mix since (as I said before) Blackcomb would not be ready, Longhorn being a popular club in the same ski resort.
Microsoft is tightlipped about the potential features of this new operating system. Vienna is the code name for the new OS and speculations are rife about the benefits that customers may derive from this. But we can be certain that both the business and private customers of Microsoft operating systems will experience a whole new world of computing with the introduction of Microsoft Vienna.Microsoft will most likely look to load its new OS with advanced features such as voice-activated computing and support for touch-screen features.
Although Microsoft is not divulging any details about Vienna, hints about the new operating system were dropped at the release of Windows Vista. In this event, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer felt that as the entertainment and information technologies evolve together customers are going for systems that combine these two. If a computer needs to support sophisticated forms of digital entertainment, its operating system should have capabilities that go well beyond Windows Vista. Microsoft is also aware of the fact that Vista is somewhat old wine in a new bottle. Vista still uses the same basic graphical user interface, which is in existence from the time Microsoft introduced Windows operating systems.
Vienna can also be an ideal platform to deliver the Windows Live initiatives from Microsoft, which includes search, e-mail, and social networking tools. Experts opine that Microsoft Vienna will be less client-centric than its predecessors and will act as a channel between the desktop and a host of services that Microsoft plans to deliver through Windows Live initiatives.
Vienna can also be a gateway for Windows users to access their PC from anywhere. Recently, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates (News - Alert) had suggested that the company is working to make Windows operating systems to allow users to have access to their files, regardless of the PC they are using.
With the web 2.0 wave taking over the internet, Microsoft is looking tackle competition from Google and other Web 2.0 players who are already offering Webtop applications. Clearly, the future leadership of the big bad world of internet belongs to those who understand the web 2.0 concepts and deliver products and services that support or enhance this concept. Companies like Google are already fine tuning their products to explore this new avenue. But with its huge reach and technical support system, Microsoft can still make a mark in the web 2.0 arena, even though it’s a late entrant in this field.
