Longhorn beta dates...

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20-03-2005, 05:23 AM
myth

Longhorn beta dates...

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Longhorn Beta 1 May 25, 2005 Longhorn Beta 2 October 12, 2005 Longhorn Client Release Candidate 0 (RC0) February 22, 2006 Longhorn Client Release Candidate 1 (RC1) April 2006 Longhorn Client release to manufacturing (RTM) May 24, 2006 Longhorn Launch (widespread public availability) Summer 2006 to October 2006, depending on release schedules for other Longhorn wave products. Longhorn Server RTM/Longhorn Client SP1 RTM Second half of 2006/first half of 2007 (Client RTM + 6 months)

Longhorn Beta 1

Longhorn Beta 1 will be targeted at Microsoft's select group of beta testers, most of whom previously beta tested Windows XP/2000 and Windows Server 2003. Unlike the alpha releases, which were designed primarily for developers, Longhorn Beta 1 will be accessible to Microsoft's PC maker, hardware, and software partners, Microsoft MVPs, and the like. It will also be made available to users through MSDN Professional and up, TechNet, and potentially to attendees of developer-oriented trade shows such as WinHEC 2005, TechEd, and/or Professional Developers Conference (PDC) 2005.

Longhorn Beta 1 will be distributed on DVD (and not CD), and will be downloadable by testers in ISO format. Only the Longhorn Premium Edition will be made available to testers in the Beta 1 timeframe, Microsoft reports. English, German, and Japanese languages will be available.

Longhorn Beta 2

Longhorn Beta 2 will be more widely distributed than Beta 1. At this time, enthusiasts and other users will be able to download a public beta version through the Customer Preview Program (CPP).

Longhorn RC0+

The Customer Preview Program will continue throughout the release candidate phase, and Microsoft expects more general customers to begin evaluating.

Also, The hardware req.

Desktop CPU: 3 GHz Intel Pentium 4 processor with HyperThreading Technology 530 (or higher) or 3 GHz Intel Xeon processor with 2 MB L2 cache, or AMD Athlon 64, Sempron, or Opteron 100, 200, or 800 processor, single or dual-core versions.

Mobile CPU: 1.86 GHz Intel Pentium M processor 750 (or higher), or AMD Turion 64 Mobile Technology, Mobile Sempron, or Mobile Athlon 64 processor.

RAM: 512 MB of RAM or more, all platforms.
20-03-2005, 01:35 PM
BenW

You got the same newsletter i got!

Anyone know where i can get a download of the current alpha versions?

Couldnt find them on PROneTworks
20-03-2005, 01:59 PM
Norky

If it's anything like Server 2003, RC's will be publicly available. Good stuff.
20-03-2005, 02:03 PM
Apex

Can i just say over the hardware req....holy mother of god !

they still carn't produce decent software.
20-03-2005, 03:01 PM
Norky

Quote:

Originally Posted by Apex

holy mother of god !

No...

HOLY MOTHER OF GOD!
20-03-2005, 03:42 PM
unrealrocks

Those hardware requirements are insaine. XP can run just about on a 266 with 64Mb of RAM.

What those specs may be for is Avalon and the likes to be running at full graphics. Alot of those transition effects look very intensive. I'm sure when you scale that lot down it'll make it alot more accessible.
20-03-2005, 04:13 PM
Norky

I reckon you have to compile everything on the fly, including the kernel :D
20-03-2005, 04:46 PM
myth

Quote:

Originally Posted by ben_wade

You got the same newsletter i got!

Anyone know where i can get a download of the current alpha versions?

Couldnt find them on PROneTworks

Thats not legal nor can it be discused here at hexus... In a few months a much more stable version will be out. One that you can legaly download ;)

New product editions

Though these plans could change, Microsoft is currently planning to ship an amazing array of product editions, or SKUs, in the Windows Longhorn family. These are the currently-scheduled versions that will ship in May 2006:

Longhorn Starter Edition
Analogous to Windows XP Starter Edition.

Longhorn Home Edition
Analogous to Windows XP Home Edition.

Longhorn Premium/Media Center Edition
A premium superset of Home Edition that includes the Media Center functionality.

Longhorn Professional Edition
Analogous to Windows XP Tablet PC Edition.

Longhorn Small Business Edition
A new product edition aimed at the small business market. Currently very similar to Professional Edition.

Longhorn Mobility/Tablet PC Edition
Analogous to Windows XP Tablet PC Edition.

Longhorn "Uber" Edition
A new product edition that bridges the consumer and business versions and includes all of the features from the Home, Premium, Pro, Small Business, and Tablet PC Editions (but not Starter Edition).

None of these product names are final, of course, and all versions except Starter Edition will ship in both 32-bit (x86) and 64-bit (x64) variants. One of the problems with this approach is that Microsoft will have a hard time communicating the differences between each SKU, in my opinion. It will be interesting to see how this develops. My advice would be to cut back on the SKUs and offer only consumer and business versions. The consumer version should include everything from Home and Premium/Media Center Editions, while the business version should include the features from Pro, Small Business, and Tablet PC Editions.

Also, though Microsoft briefly considered not shipping retail versions of Longhorn at all, and would have required users to acquire the OS with a new PC purchase, those plans were cancelled. As with Windows XP, the various Longhorn editions will ship in retail and OEM (PC maker) versions.