The next version of Windows will sport some fancy, three-dimensional graphics, but for those with an older video card, Longhorn will look a lot like Windows 2000.
That"s because with Longhorn, Microsoft plans to offer three different graphical interfaces, each requiring a different level of graphics card. "This is the first time we"ve had a tiered user experience based on the hardware you are running," lead product manager Greg Sullivan said during an interview at the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference (WinHEC) here.
The top-of-the-line interface, code-named "Aero Glass," will have transparency and other advanced three-dimensional shading features but will demand a high-end video card with at least 64MB of video memory. The midlevel "Aero" interface will offer most of the improved graphics abilities and will require just 32MB of video memory. Both Aero and Aero Glass will also require DirectX 9.0 support, AGP 4X for external graphics cards and a Longhorn graphics driver. For those systems that lack such a powerful graphics card, Microsoft will offer a "classic" interface, designed to replicate Windows 2000, the mainstay of today"s corporate desktops.