New Windows? New PC? Preparing for Longhorn

A new windows release from the boys at Redmond is always an exciting time for PC enthusiasts everywhere, (just think back to the pre XP days),but will it be worth it? Is 2000 or even XP good enough for me? Should we wait for a service pack or two? Or will we bite the bullet and jump right in?. With Microsoft continually pushing new features and better performance i have to ask the question. Is it worthwhile jumping on the MS bandwagon and upgrading once Longhorn is out? Are the current offerings from MS sufficient or are we destined to be locked into an endless cycle of OS upgrades? Perhaps it is simply too early to tell? What do you think?- Keldyn

Windows XP has been on the market for a year now, so naturally everyone is clamoring for details on the next version of the world's most popular operating system -- or so Microsoft Corp. hopes

Details are dribbling out, but Microsoft won't say a word on the record, declining to comment for this story. Analysts and software developers haven't been briefed, either.

But here's what has leaked out so far.

The next version of the world's most popular desktop operating system, code-named "Longhorn," is due out in test form next year and in final form in 2004. It will have a new look and feel, very different from Windows XP's. Its guts will also be radically different from Windows XP's, because they're based on XML -- extensible markup language, the emerging lingua franca of the Internet. And it will be the first version that won't function fully without new hardware.

"With the possible exception of Windows NT, which was a change from the ground up, this could be the biggest change ever..."

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