Microsoft has recommitted to releasing Longhorn, its next-generation Windows client and server, into beta testing in 2005 even though its chairman acknowledged that security concerns threaten his dream of enabling seamless connectivity and Web services.
At the company"s annual Windows Hardware Engineering Conference 2004 in Seattle, Microsoft Chairman and Chief Software Architect Bill Gates and executives demonstrated updated alpha and software development kit (SDK) of the Longhorn client, as well as potential Universal Plug and Play (UpnP) technology that could connect various Windows network-attached devices. Microsoft called the alpha a developer"s preview. The first developer preview was released last fall.