When it finally ships, the Longhorn release of Windows will include a number of interesting new technologies. But it is the technology currently code-named “Indigo” that stands out as the most important product for anyone who cares about how diverse systems are glued together. To understand Indigo, however, there are four points you need to get your mind around. Elsewhere, .NET luminaries discuss themselves, their technology expertise, and whatever else comes to mind, released twice a month. Elsewhere, the Longhorn Driver Kit is a fully integrated driver development system for Windows.
Indigo: The end of the rainbow
About The Author
Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
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11 Comments
2004-07-31 2:09 am
2004-07-31 6:03 am
Both products do exist. They’ve been in the hands of developers for sometime.
Can I buy Longhorn right Now?
No, but you can get several wokring builds formt he unofficial channels. Also, members of MSDN get them too.
Is Indigo currently supported?
Supported by what?
Both Longhorn and Indigo are projects under development.
They are not products.
Mmm, so, when a product is under development, it’s no product? May I remind you that every piece of software is under dev? The Linux kernel, Microsoft Office, my BeOS sticky note app, they are all under dev. According to your logic, they are not products.
They are just VAPORWARE.
They are not on the market and there is no real commited deadline as to their availability.
Deadlines are restrictive. It’s better for a development model not to have them. I don’t think we have deadline for the next Linux kernel release, now, do we? Or for OOo 2.0?
So many projects were abandonned by Microsoft and the software industry as a whole.
I believe only in what I can buy and is supported.
Longhorn and Indigo do not exist.
You only believe in what you can buy?
Yeah right.
Ok, I only read the linked article quickly, but I’ve seen a boatload of buzzwords and very few content.
Remote services? They have been around forever, and lack a security model (think SOAP)
Objects which expose reusable methods.. uhm.. COM?
If there is really anything new here I wuould honestly like to know it (not trolling or kidding)…
The best bit about Indigo is that it is going to be back-ported to XP. This is logical as it means that Indigo based technologies will work with Windows Longhaul’s main desktop competitor, Windows XP.
Aside from that from the article it doesn’t seem like Indigo is really anything to write home about, services exported from applications that are accessable locally as well as from the internet. Abit like the services found in NextStep and Cocoa with the added bonus of being able to access services from the web in a transparent way.
Hopefully this will use two different techniques for locally based services and web based services, using SOAP and XML Web services for both opens up security nightmares and would be very resource heavy.
“Mmm, so, when a product is under development, it’s no product? May I remind you that every piece of software is under dev? The Linux kernel,..”
Thom,
Linux is available in all different colours for Joe and Jane sixpack to purchase, if they wish
The same is not true for Longhorn, ergo, Omega is right. At the moment it is vapourware. As long as Longhorn is not available to the market it remains vapourware.
Think of it as a prototype car used for reserch …. Actually, MS is using it to patenting reasons …..
They are just VAPORWARE.
They are not on the market and there is no real commited deadline as to their availability.
Vaporware is software that never exists. You can download (if you are an MSDN subscriber or know someone who is) these apis and work with them right now. Thats a far cry from vaporware.
We have a rought timeframe, 2006-07ish. One thing is certain at this point and that being that these APIs are what Windows developers will be using in the future.
So many projects were abandonned by Microsoft and the software industry as a whole.
Yes and I’m sure many more will be abandoned in the future. That must reason enough to never look at upcoming software or technologies for guys like you I guess.
I believe only in what I can buy and is supported.
Ok so you are an end user and a customer. With that in mind I can see how this stuff dosen’t interest you.
For someone who writes software on windows and wants to make sure they have the skills and know the tools to write software for the next release of the OS these APIs are interesting and important to understand NOW, not when they are released.
Longhorn and Indigo do not exist.
I wonder what the gigabytes of HD space I have devoted to Longhorn and the new .net apis really contain then ? It surely ain’t a porno collection!
I wonder what the gigabytes of HD space I have devoted to Longhorn and the new .net apis really contain then ?
I could tell you what it is but you would not like to know.
But it’s no porn I agree 🙂
As long as Mr. Longhorn will not get rid of his registry i will never thing of it as my future jacket