March 15, 2006 4:05 PM
Your Next Vista: Fiji
Attention, code name fans. We've got a goodie for you today.
The next version of Windows client – the one we've been calling Vista R2 until now – is officially known as "Fiji," our tipsters tell us.
The road ahead now looks like this:
* Windows Vista: Due in Fall (word is, November) 2006
* Windows Fiji: Due in 2008
* Windows Vienna: Due in 2010
What do these code names have in common? All of them represent "great vistas." As a Microsoft spokesman explained in January: "These code names are derived from cities/locations in the world known for great 'vistas'. The kinds of places we all want to see, experience and that capture the imagination."
It's 'Official': Windows Vista to Launch in November
January: Blackcomb is Now Vienna
Microsoft's Big Strategy: Win the Web
So what's on tap for Fiji? Our sources say there will be lots more imaging and digital photo functionality. (No big surprise there; see our third newsletter item today for more on that theme.) We're wagering there will be hooks to support WinFS, the Windows File System that was axed with a resounding thud from Vista back in 2004.
Beyond that, we just don't know about Fiji features yet. And we're not sure the Vista team – which is preoccupied with fixing bugs to get this year's version of Windows out the door -- does, either.
Meanwhile, speaking of code names, another of our sources tells us that Microsoft has decided on a final name for Windows Longhorn Server. Drum roll, please … It's going to be Windows Vista Server, we hear.
Yeah, it does feel somewhat anti-climactic to us, too. We'll keep you posted if and when Redmond confirms either of these.
IE Futures to Be a Mix '06 Hot Button
It's Vegas or bust next week, with Microsoft's 72-hour "conversation" – a k a, Microsoft Mix '06 – rolling into town. About 1,000 designer and developer geeks will take over the Venetian hotel and be hanging from the gondola polls.
Mix '06: The Hottest Web 2.0 Ticket in Town
Microsoft will be talking up its Expression tool suite, Atlas AJAX framework and Windows Media Center (we're kind of puzzled what the latter topic is doing in here, given the theme of the conference). But the other Mix '06 hot button – and the one we're predicting will steal the show – is Internet Explorer.
Kicking off the conference, Dean Hachamovitch, Microsoft General Manager for Internet Explorer team, and unnamed partners will be keynoting right after Microsoft chairman Bill Gates and Web 2.0 maven Tim O'Reilly.
Microsoft will be hosting an "IE7 Compat Lab" at the show, where developers will have a chance to test their applications for compatibility with the latest IE test builds. As Microsoft itself acknowledges:
With IE 7.0, "reduced need to hack around quirks in older browsers, however, means that existing pages written specifically for older browsers may render differently in IE7. In addition, IE7 includes a number of new security features which may have impact on binary extensions such as toolbars, browser helper objects, and ActiveX controls.
Read More About the IE7 Compat Fest Here
Microsoft also will be distributing a new build of IE 7.0 to Mix '06 attendees, and, following the show, to non-attendees, too, company officials have said.
New IE 7.0 Build on Tap for Next Week
We're betting (an activity we're sure we'll engage in frequently next week) that Microsoft could drop the long-awaited IE 7.0 Beta 2 bits. Microsoft dropped the IE 7.0 Beta 2 preview bits in late January, Microsoft Watchers may recall.
January: IE 7.0 Beta 2 -- No Cigar Yet
Web Standards Project: IE 7.0 Looking Good
A session where Microsoft will gather feedback for what kinds of features and functionality should be in the next version of IE also is on the docket, too.
Speaking of Mix '06, if any of you Microsoft Watch readers are going to the conference and would like to meet up, I'd be game. Just drop me a line at mfoley@ziffdavis.com and we'll synchronize our calendars.
Gates Drops Hints on Imaging Plans at Corbis Meeting
We had a chance to see Bill Gates live and in person in New York this week. Gates wasn't wearing his usual Microsoft hat; he was speaking at the annual meeting of Corbis, his "other" company which he founded in 1990.
Since its start, Corbis has morphed from a provider of still photography to a round-the-clock services business. One of the biggest services it delivers is "rights clearance." Corbis negotiates the legal rights for its own and third-party images for its clients with stakeholders, such as studios, publishers and celebrities.
2006: Gates Gives a Corbis Progress Report
2004: A Take on Corbis' First Annual Meeting
For Microsoft Watchers, there were some interesting hints and observations that Gates shared during his opening remarks at the Corbis meeting.
Gates told attendees that his vision for Corbis and digital imaging has come full circle. Originally, Gates expected the demand for digital images to come from two places: "People at home with nice displays looking at gallery of pictures or a portable device." And until recently, neither of those markets really materialized, he admitted.
These days, the big demand for digital imagery is coming from advertisers and media companies. But "we also do have now an element of that original vision coming back," Gates said, as "the mobile phone market been a great revenue generator for Corbis.
"It's almost retro that we're now servicing a market that is growing up around digital imaging gallery – the original vision of the company," he added.
Gates projected that video, mapping and new small-screen, interactive ads will all be strong growth drivers for Corbis (and, not so coincidentally, Microsoft) in the coming year.
More interesting to us, were some seemingly offhand comments Gates shared later on in his remarks.
"More media consumption online needs to be digital. Users will be more empowered. More print media will be consumed off the screen. Light-weight tablet devices will be used for reading daily papers and magazines. Text books will be moving into digitized form. Teachers can customize those things. Corbis can come in and provide content," Gates said.
This all sounded awfully familiar to this Microsoft Watcher. It sounded like ePeriodicals, a Microsoft project we've mentioned in this newsletter a few times over the past couple of years.
Just last May, we reminded readers about ePeriodicals, the end-to-end publishing solution targeted at the Tablet PC.
May 2005: ePeriodicals Lives!
"Our sources told us that Microsoft was counting on ePeriodicals to allow developers to create complex documents, like 'eMagazines,' that could be read on a variety of devices, including the Tablet PC. The technology will manage the full publishing process-from the layout and creation of the documents; to their full editing life cycle; to their delivery via a push-type online subscription mechanism, our sources said.
Last year, our tipsters told us ePeriodicals had been morphed into Vista in some way. Microsoft is folding its Tablet-specific software functionality into Vista and the "Avalon" Windows Presentation Foundation, in particular.
And with the first of the just-announced "Origami" all-in-one mini-Tablet devices due to hit the market in April, Gates' vision may not be far off from getting an official taste test.
Got a Microsoft product, strategy or personality you're just dying to read more about? Send your ideas, rants, raves, quibbles and other tidbits to mfoley@ziffdavis.com. (Don't worry, though: Confidentiality is guaranteed!)
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Copyright 2006 Ziff Davis Media Inc. All Rights Reserved. Ziff Davis Media Inc., 28 East 28th Street, New York, NY 10016. The Microsoft Watch newsletter and Code Name Tracker are intended for the individual use of the recipient only, unless licensed. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited. Microsoft Watch is an independent publication, not affiliated with or authorized by Microsoft Corporation.
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