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Microsoft to offer early look at next Windows

By Kim Peterson
Seattle Times technology reporter

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One developer has created a downloadable digital clock that counts down to the Los Angeles event, called the Professional Developers Conference, or PDC. People have spent weeks discussing the conference online, speculating about what might be revealed and bemoaning the "pre-PDC blues."

The sold-out conference is one of the most important events of the year for Microsoft. The company is expected to provide one of the first public looks under the hood of Longhorn, code name for the next release of Windows, Microsoft's flagship operating system.

Longhorn isn't likely to be released until 2005, or possibly 2006, but Microsoft has been working on it for years. The company is expected to give out some of Longhorn's underlying code this week in hopes that developers will begin tinkering with it and planning products around it.

The PDC is about more than distributing code, however. Microsoft will reveal a glimpse of the future of the Windows operating system and, by extension, its vision of how people will use computers in coming years.

The conference will be attended by about 7,000 developers — a relatively small number for a major event such as this — and will be loaded with technical discussions. But Chairman Bill Gates is expected to give a keynote address today with a high-level overview of where Microsoft and the computer industry are headed.

Microsoft expects its next operating system will revolutionize the industry again, and this week it will try to get developers to share that excitement.

"Historically, you can often sort of tell that inflection points are coming, that the industry's about to move in a particular direction, based on the level of developer engagement," said Adam Sohn, a product manager and among the thousands of employees at Microsoft who have been working serious overtime lately to prepare for the PDC.

Microsoft is also expected to give more details on Whidbey, the code name for the next version of the Visual Studio software developer toolkit; and Yukon, the code name for an upcoming version of SQL Server.

There will likely be discussions about a new Web services framework called Indigo and some of the graphics and media technology within Longhorn called Avalon. And there will be parties — some developers were even considering a late-night follow-up to the Avalon discussion at a nightclub called Avalon Hollywood.

"Personally, I think it's probably the most exciting thing that's gone on this year," said Corey Gouker, a Palm Springs-based software developer who created the PDC countdown clock. "I think it's going to make a big difference with products later. As developers, we're able to go in and say, 'We don't like this,' or 'This needs to be changed.' "

Microsoft isn't going to disclose everything it's working on. The code for the on-screen graphics part of Longhorn that users will see, called Aero, probably will not be revealed.

"It's not, by any sense, code or feature complete," Sohn said about the early release.

Whether developers will be satisfied with the released code remains to be seen. In addition, the code could significantly change between now and when the final product is released.

While the PDC audience includes some of Microsoft's biggest fans, that doesn't mean this will be an easy week for the company.

The crowd is not going to be influenced by hype, said Michael Cherry, an analyst who covers the Windows platform for Directions on Microsoft.

"The problem is that (Microsoft) is promising that Longhorn will be revolutionary, but we need to see that they're actually going to be able to deliver," Cherry said. "There will be a lot of pressure."

Expectations are high, and Microsoft executives have helped push them up. In a June memo to employees, Chief Executive Steve Ballmer said that everything Microsoft is doing with its products will be part of the Longhorn wave. "Longhorn is our big bet on galvanizing the next big breakthrough — even bigger, perhaps, then the first generation Windows release," Ballmer wrote.

Scott Hanselman, chief architect at Portland-based e-banking company Corillian, said he's going to PDC expecting to be impressed.

"They've been in the kitchen for the last couple of years, and they're ready to show us what they've been cooking up," he said. "It's a big deal."

Hanselman is one of dozens of developers who will be filing entries to his online blog from the conference. Many of the blogs are being collected on a Web site: www.pdcbloggers.net

Dylan Greene, a developer in Arlington, Va., isn't going to the PDC but said he'll check the blogs religiously this week. Longhorn is important to the future of developers' careers, he said.

"A lot of people think of Microsoft as a company that doesn't innovate," he said. "This will prove that they've been innovating in a lot of ways that we haven't been expecting."

Kim Peterson: 206-464-2360 or kpeterson@seattletimes.com

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