As the Professional Developers Conference (PDC) countdown clock ticks down —at this writing, we"re 19 days, 14 hours and 36 minutes away from the Longhorn stampede, according to one enthusiast"s Web site — it"s a good time to start separating Longhorn fact from fiction.
This feat is a lot harder than it seems, as the next version of Windows already has taken on mythic proportions, surpassing even that of Windows 95, despite the fact that the first "official" technical-preview build isn"t even out yet, and the final code isn"t expected until 2005+. When an operating system (at least at this point) is set to include an estimated 700 new features, according to one Microsoft insider, there"s bound to be trouble in discerning what"s the kitchen sink vs. real, quantifiable new components.