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Windows Vista, Server and IE 7 Betas to Arrive in Synch
from:internetnews.com
Microsoft confirmed to internetnews.com that it will deliver the beta 1 version of Longhorn Server on August 3, along with the beta 1 release Internet Explorer 7. They'll be available along with the beta 1 version of Windows Vista, the next-generation Windows client formerly known as Longhorn, which Microsoft announced Friday morning.
The server beta, with a still-to-be-determined moniker, will contain the core operating system foundation and APIs for Longhorn Server. The private beta will be offered to hardware manufacturers, OEMs, IHVs, system builders, ISVs and developers. The build will let them test and plan their own products to work on top of the next-generation server, a Microsoft spokeswoman said.
Features of the new server product will include centralized and filtered event logging, image-based setup and deployment, a transactional file system and registry and built-in rights management.
While the desktop and server products are being developed together with the same code base, Microsoft plans the final release of Longhorn Server for six to 12 months after the release of Windows Vista. Microsoft is working to release Vista in time to install it on PCs to be sold during the holiday gift season in 2006, and it hopes to deliver the server product in 2007.
Microsoft group product manager Greg Sullivan told internetnews.com that, while the company will deliver the WinFS file system separately, "I think people will be surprised that a lot of what we showed in the WinFS demo is in Windows Vista."
In April, Microsoft demonstrated an early version of Windows Vista, showing off virtual folders that dynamically gather files from anywhere on the hard drive that match keywords or other criteria. That functionality originally depended on WinFS, the new storage model. Virtual folders were basically the results of queries to an underlying data store, Sullivan said.
"The development team looked at the scenarios for managing stuff on the PC, and found a way to that without this underlying store," he said. The beta 1 release will include the virtual folders that track hierarchical data queries. "We realized we can do it in the shell," Sullivan said. Later, when WinFS is ready, he said, any application will be able to write to the APIs.
Sullivan also gave more details on integration of RSS into Windows Vista. "This will be a dramatic evolution of the user model," he said. "Increasingly, RSS as a delivery vehicle will be more and more important."
Windows Vista will handle the "plumbing" for RSS, he said, so that application developers and ISVs will be able to add RSS into the software they build on top of Windows without having to worry about connecting to the operating system. Sullivan said this was analogous to the way Windows offers printer drivers, so that a variety of printers can be attached to the same computer.
Jupiter Research analyst Joe Wilcox said the Windows Vista beta would contain the guts of the operating system, designed for developers and IT professionals. "They can make sure it will fit inside their environment and build stuff on it." But he expects this beta to be more widely available than some of Microsoft's early builds. Jupiter Research is owned by the same corporation as internetnews.com.
"For Windows XP, the early betas were very select," Wilcox said. "With this one, it would not shock me if Microsoft made it available to Microsoft Developers Network subscribers."
微软已经向Internetnews.com确认，将在8月3日同时发布Windows Vista Beta 1、Internet Explorer 7 Beta 1以及Longhorn Server Beta 1。
Longhorn Server的正式名称尚未公布，Beta 1将包含最终版的核心操作系统基础以及API（应用软件接口）。Beta版将向硬件厂商、OEM、IHV、ISV以及开发者提供，以允许他们在最先进的下一代Server操作系统中测试自己的产品。
微软今年4月首次推出前期版本的Windows Vista（当时代号Longhorn），展示了Vista的Virtual Folder等全新改进。
微软发言人Sullivan还透露，Windows Vista将全面集成RSS功能，“这将为用户模型带来显著革命，RSS作为信息传播工具，其作用将愈发凸现。”
长角定名引出众多评论 Vista不太讨人喜欢
美国东部时间7月24日(北京时间7月24日)消息，微软日前正式宣布将“长角”命名为Windows Vista操作系统后，引起了业界的广泛关注。据News.com网站进行的民意调查结果显示，在3000名参与调查的读者当中，有45%的人表示他们会习惯使用Windows Vista这一名称。但是，有40%的人表示不喜欢这个名称。仅有15%的人表示微软使用这个名称是一个正确的选择。
网民们在网上就相关问题展开了激烈的辩论，他们争论的话题很多，包括“Vista”这个词的准确解释问题，Vista在英语中是“远景和展望”的意思，而在拉脱维亚语中则是“母鸡”之意。网民们还就“长角“是否是一个更好的名称问题进行了广泛讨论。
另外，Slashdot.org网站也进行了类似的民意调查，大约搜集到了网民们750条的评论意见。有网民称，“Vista就像是老式的四轮车，当我把这款操作系统安装到我的电脑上后，它就会特别适合我的电脑，因为Vista速度很慢，也很老了”。还有网民也对Vista采取了类似的讽刺语调，有名博客表示，Vista就是“五大Windows问题”内容的首字母缩写，这五大问题是“病毒、传染、间谍软件、特洛伊和广告软件”。
还有很多网民对这款操作系统的定名问题表示冷谈。他们认为，类似于“Windows 2006”这样的名称可能会未来两年内出现，而“长角”则不是一个在地球上容易被人理解的名称。
微软表示，Vista的第一款测试版有望在8月3日正式发布。这款测试版主要服务对象定位于开发人员和IT专业人员。第二款测试版将主要面向普通消费者，并且将在正式版Vista发布前与用户见面，时间大约在明年下半年。
微软解释“Windows Vista”含义所在
在下一代Windows终于有了自己的名字的时候，很多人也不禁会问：为什么会叫“Windows Vista”这么个稀奇古怪的名字？
从字面意义上看，vista的意思包括“狭长的景色、街景、展望、回想”等等。“展望”，相信很多人觉得这个词是尤其值得注意的。那微软是如何看待的呢？
据微软的代表透露，微软认为，新一代的Windows应该“有一个更具代表性的名字，能够体现出它到底给消费者带来了什么”。
一位微软发言人进一步解释说：“今天，我们生活在一个充满‘更多’的世界里——更多信息、更多渠道、更多追求、更多机遇和更多责任。越来越多地，我们依赖电脑来帮助我们解决这些问题。说到底，我们所追求的，是突破一切障碍，把精力放在我们需要去做的事情上。我们要做的，是拥有属于自己的‘Vista’——无论是整理照片，还是查找文档、联络他人，抑或是通过电子方式进行团体的协作。”
不知道这么一番解释是让大家有所明了了还是愈发糊涂了（想当初Windows XP的名字就让人思量了许久）。其实，无论是Windows Vista的发布视频，还是其官方网站上的广告词，或者是上边的解释，都已经把微软的目的表达得很明显了：用更先进的技术带给人们更美好的现代生活。
微软自然是有自己要忙活的，而我们所要做的，就是静静地期待了。
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