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Windows "Vienna" (formerly known as Blackcomb) is Microsoft's codename for
the successor to Microsoft Windows Vista and "Longhorn Server", originally
announced in February 2000, but since subject to major delays and rescheduling.
Development
The code name "Blackcomb" was originally assigned to a version of Windows that
was planned to follow Windows XP (codenamed "Whistler"; both named after the
Whistler-Blackcomb resort) in both client and server versions. However, in
August 2001, the release of Blackcomb was pushed back several years and Vista
(originally codenamed "Longhorn", after a bar in the Whistler-Blackcomb resort)
was announced as a release between XP and Blackcomb. Since then, the status of
Blackcomb has undergone many alterations and PR manipulations, ranging from
Blackcomb being scrapped entirely, to becoming a server-only release. In January
2006, Blackcomb was renamed to "Vienna" . Vienna is still planned as both a
client and server release with a current release estimate of anytime between
2009-2012. (although no firm release date or target has yet been publicized).
Focus
Internal sources pitch Vienna as being not just a major revision of Windows, but
a complete departure from the way we have typically thought about interacting
with a computer. While Windows Vista is intended to be a technologies-based
release, with some added UI sparkle (in the form of the Aero set of technologies
and guidelines), Vienna is targeted directly at revolutionizing the way we
interact with our home and office PCs.
For instance, the "Start" philosophy, introduced in Windows 95, may be
completely replaced by the "new interface" which was said in 1999 to be
scheduled for "Vienna", before being moved to the Longhorn project, and then
back to "Vienna".
The Explorer shell will be replaced in its entirety, with features such as the
taskbar being replaced by a new concept based on the last 10 years of R&D at the
Microsoft "VIBE" research lab. Projects such as GroupBar and LayoutBar are
expected to make an appearance, allowing users to more effectively manage and
keep track of their applications and documents while in use, and a new way of
launching applications is expected - among other ideas, Microsoft is
investigating a pie menu-type circular interface, similar in function to the
dock in Mac OS X.
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