Longhorn is an embarrassment. The current timetable calls for it to be released in December of 2006 -- with no guarantee it will make even that late date. And this is with a number of its more promising features and capabilities removed.

Microsoft talks a lot about innovation, but it's clear Gates and Ballmer are under the impression this word is a synonym for acquisition. Below is just a sample of the software which Microsoft has acquired -- er, "innovated":

MS-DOS (Contrary to popular opinion, Microsoft did not originate this.)
Windows NT (Appropriated from DEC's Mica project.)
Internet Explorer (Purchased from Spyglass.)
C# (Appropriated from Sun's Java -- right down to the syntax and command vocabulary.)
Hotmail
Powerpoint
Visio
Great Plains Accounting (Purchased from the company of the same name.)
FoxPro
SQL Server

This is a shameful and abysmal record for the largest software company in the world. Can Microsoft not invent anything of its own? Is it nothing more than a distributor of software? Aside from MS-Word and Excel, just what has Microsoft "innovated"?

Add to this the fact that Internet Explorer hasn't had a meaningful upgrade since 1999 (except for nascent version 7), and this is a company which behaves like its sheer size will let it get away with almost anything. Imagine that.

Don't get me wrong -- Windows does have some superior aspects to Apple's OS X operating system, but most of these originated with X11 (X Windows) on UNIX systems and not with Windows itself. Microsoft is a derivative company, and there is nothing wrong with this per se except that it keeps citing its own "innovations" and this is grossly cynical and disingenuous of the company.

And Longhorn looks to be no different, though time will tell.

...and it looks just like Safari's RSS Display. Surprise Surprise.

Yeah, they're good at that.

IE7 = Safari

Monad = bash

Well, actually, it's more like:

IE7 < Safari

Monad < bash

But hey, at least they're trying. (very...very...trying.)

Pretty sad.

Its like they re-invented wheel. Whoup-di-doo.

I honestly think it's time to forget about Longhorn and release an updated version of XP - which in effect is what Longhorn will be. Why don't they just call it XP 2006 or something and try to get some consistency going in the publics' mind.

These guys are so late to the game it's ridiculous, I might buy a mac mini.

support for the rss standard in longhorn ? to be released in about 18 months from now ? who says that by that time there still is something like rss ? or maybe even windows? 18 months is about 6 new computer generations...will the world stop and wait ? and pretty "innovating" that will be eh ? or is it just too much to issue that patch for the current generation of IE ? or maybe just another mechanism to sweeten possible next clients ? in any case..."hurray"...for this "new" devellopment...

RSS, That's totally brand new stuff! Now I'm all excited again about Longhorn,NOT!

It's about time. Maybe MS involvement will help consolidate RSS inconsistencies as well. Then again, they might steer it all horribly awry and hijack yet another standard. Who knows. My bet is that in order to meet their self-imposed, fictitious "deadline" they'll strip it all out like they did WinFS and the rest of the 'cool features' they initially hyped.

bah! i think im gunna switch to mac! the windows systems arent worth it! they need to consolodate the OS to set hardware like apple... works much better!

I think i'm gonna switch to a Mac eventually, but until then Linux will have to do.

are you kidding? That would put every clone manufacturer out of business, pretty much every motherboard manufacturer, and vast majorities of businesses out of business.

Consolidating the OS to specific hardware is something Mac has done forever, however this is why they have such shortcomings, sure everyone is loving them right now because of the x86 switch, but that doesn't mean anything to a typical x86 owner because of this specific reason of OS consolidation towards hardware.

Bah, I'm tired of everyone saying "I'm switching to Mac" ... why don't you give up all your hardware freedom why don't yah, I personally like being able to build my own computer, customize the parts, upgrade when needed...

I agree giving up my freedom of upgrading and using the brand names i want to use it to important for me. That is why I own multiple computers. Windows, Linux, and os x based systems. I have my desktop that is linux, my laptop that is windows, and my other desktop used for video editing for my sisters projects that is a g5. I love them all to death and find myself hardly touching the linux computer since linux is just childish looking and people can't just make it easy to use, they gotta make everything named stupid. It seems no matter what version of linux you have someone has to spell everything wrong, or there are 4 utilities that are from 3 different groups to modify the display. One working better then the other and having parts suck more then the other. Linux is sometimes a joke, but I still enjoy using it.. So don't get me wrong, its got its problems just like the other os's. Well just like windows. I have yet to upgrade to tiger but am awaiting my paycheck. There is a reason apple computers work so well. Its cause they have standards. They test them, and they don't let just any idoit built parts to work with them. Something Windows/nvidia users are very familiar with and no ATI as well. Its sad. If a computer company could just make a decent system... I have plans on buying an intel based mac first thing first to replace my linux system. My AW system with windows will stay around for a long time as its my gaming laptop. But once more games start being made for os x. I will do a complete switch(most likely).

"Consolidating the OS to specific hardware is something Mac has done forever, however this is why they have such shortcomings"

Such as? Reliability, stability and quality are shortcomings to you?