Microsoft Works Out Longhorn Schedule for First Half of 2006

Will the next media player be for XP only or, like version 9, will it also run on atleast 2000?

Mike April 12, 2004

hopefully will run on at least 2000, MS is releasing new DRM features with the new player to encourage sales on online wma tracks..like with itunes..- in effect they need all the support they can get to win the music format battle

simon April 13, 2004

To be honest, I don't mind that Longhorn has such a long time before it comes out. I'm quite happy that my investment in windows will actually have some time to mature, instead of becoming obsolete within 6 to 12 months. It's kind of refreshing to actually have to wait for a new Microsoft product.

Brian M. Schade, MCSE April 13, 2004

id av thought that itd support 2000 as well, but its quite likely theyll get rid of support for 98/me, like they did for office.

dave April 13, 2004

I am sorry. The Microsoft Media Player 10 will be aviable only on Windows XP. Please feel free to upgrade. Xp is so much more eye friendly as well as more user friendly than 2000!

Bill Gates April 13, 2004

Windows XP and Windows 2000 are so similar that I would expect that the "reloaded" version of WMP will work on 2000 as well.

Brett April 13, 2004

They'll be dropping support for Windows 2000 in 2006 :(

Angel Blue01 April 14, 2004

I'm a bit concerned with Microsoft's shift of attitude towards Longhorn. I can understand Microsoft's move to give a fixed schedule for Longhorn, but the idea of removing features if necessary, in order to meet this schedule, makes me wonder if longhorn is going to appear as incomplete in certain areas. Taking the non-LAN support of WinFS as an example… Home networks are advancing quite substantially throughout the world, and personal files are stored all over the network. I don’t see WinFS living up to its full potential and be of great use if it will not support these networked files. Although it places no firm date on the Longhorn release, I would much rather see Microsoft taking its original attitude of shipping Longhorn when it is fully complete and they are happy with it. If a schedule is required, push the schedule on a few months to ensure plenty of time to complete Longhorn with all full features. Controversial this move may be, but it will ensure Longhorn really is great revolutionarily release. Mic

Mic Hinett April 14, 2004

I honestly do not see the rush. I'm in no hurry at all for a new operating system. There's plenty here, right now. WinLong brings in yet another set of APIs [ WinFX being one ] which means hours of figuring out how the heck to work the thing if I don't burn out first.

Stephen April 15, 2004

Companies are (at least we are) thinking to skip XP. We have +1200 workstations running Windows 2000. We can live with those easily. We have always same OS in all machines, so it's not cheap to roll-out. That's why we were thinking to skip XP. Now it seems too risky, because Windows 2000 might die before Longhorn is mature (SP1 at least) for business use.

Eric S. April 16, 2004