A PLATFORM SHIFT IN SEARCH OF A KILLER APP

摘要

A week after microsoft took the wraps off Windows Longhorn, software developers are cogitating on one key question: What's the killer app? At its Professional Developers Conference in Los Angeles last week, Microsoft released to 7,000 developers a technical preview version of Longhorn, the code name for a new version of the Windows desktop operating system that's due in three years. It's a long lead time for testing a product, but then, there's a lot of new technology in Longhorn. "We're trying to acclimate developers to our concepts, so by the time we're ready to ship beta-quality bits, they're in the swing of things," says Microsoft chief technical officer Craig Mundie. A beta is due next year. Assuming it takes a couple of years to develop apps on Longhorn's programming model, releasing an early version "increases the probability that lots of interesting apps will be ready to ship with Longhorn," he says.