Microsoft unveils next version of Windows

Microsoft has revealed the first details of the next version of its Windows operating system, codenamed Longhorn.

Chairman Bill Gates told delegates at the supplier's Professional Developer Conference that the software, due towards the end of 2005, will be Microsoft's biggest release since Windows 95.

'The boundaries we've got between different devices, between the structured world of information and the unstructured world of email and communication is too difficult,' he said.

'Now, we've had too much complexity, too many different commands, different ways that information has been stored that people have to understand. In order to achieve this we not only need to solve things like security and applications, but also a lot of unification of the different things that have existed on the PC'.

Longhorn will feature a structured database-driven file system called WinFS, allowing for dynamic searching, recalling and sharing of data between devices and applications.

'We have the information in silos -- mail is separate from the files, is separate from the web pages. The information has not been structured. All the operating system knows about files is that they are binary,' said Gates.

The move to WinFS significantly changes the way the system will interact with user files and data. Instead of treating files as static lumps of data, all information is active and can be mined and shared between Longhorn applications.

'The ability to intermix files and mail and notes into one hierarchy that is organised the way that you want it to be is a very different thing,' said Gates.

The operating system will also be heavily reliant on XML, which will feature in the new 'Avalon' user interface and the application and web services development model.

But the transition to Longhorn involves Microsoft making a number of technology predictions. For Longhorn to work, it will require much higher performance PCs than are traditionally found in the workplace, along with significantly more advanced graphics cards to drive the new interface.