Thanks Pit of 3DWin.de for this, As Launch day winds down, we do have one more internal email that was sent out to Beta testers on the (official) closure of the Windows XP Beta period. Future Windows versions have been sidetracked at this point, but Neowin can Exclusively reveal that key testers have already been contacted by Microsoft with assurance that they will recieve a developers preview of Windows "codenamed" Longhorn. There has been no date set for this release so stay tuned as we learn more. Below excerpts from the email.
The Next Beta Program(s)
As we move into new Windows beta projects, we"ll be in touch with many of you as our experienced Windows beta testers to offer future opportunities to test Windows. At this time, we ask your patience in waiting for the appropriate programs.
Windows XP Service Pack 1
The next "client" (Windows XP Professional and Home Edition) beta program will focus on Service Pack 1 testing. Windows XP SP1 will involve many of the Home Edition and Professional testers from the Whistler/Windows XP beta program.
We will be sending more information on this sometime in early 2002. This is the next program you want to participate in if you"re not doing enterprise server development or deployment work. If you want to apply to participate in this program, please do not send email to betareq or any other Microsoft email aliases at this time. Initial invitations will be solely based upon participants in the Windows XP beta program.
Longhorn, Blackcomb, or whatever codename-of-the-week on Web news sites
Who knows what future versions of Windows will be called during development.
In any event, there is no active beta program, and any program will initially be based on the above two programs (.NET Server and Windows XP SP1). Sending email to betareq or any other Microsoft alias at this time will not help make you a candidate for future beta programs.