By cutting the Windows File System (WinFS) feature out of both Longhorn client and server, Microsoft didn't affect only its next-generation Windows release. It also has set back technologies designed to be dependent on WinFS.

One of the most prominent of these technologies is the Microsoft Business Framework (MBF).

The Microsoft Business Framework (MBF) is a set of developer tools and software classes designed to build atop Microsoft's .Net Framework. Various Microsoft product groups, as well as some of its third-party software partners, are working to build a number of its products — including the Microsoft Business Portal, future releases of its Visual Studio .Net tool suite and its "Code Green" suite of business applications built on top of a single code base — all on top of the MBF layer.

Last week, Microsoft officials announced they had decided to cut WinFS from Longhorn client and server in order to ship the releases in 2006 and 2007, respectively. Currently, Microsoft is not stating when it hopes to ship WinFS, other than to say that a first beta version of the technology will be available to testers in 2006.

Earlier this summer, Microsoft revealed that it had decided to delay the final release of MBF from 2005 to 2006 in order to synch it up with Longhorn. But as MBF has WinFS dependencies, all bets are off, as to when MBF will see the light of day.

"We've aligned (the) WinFS and MBF technologies to make sure that the APIs (application programming interfaceds) and features are consistent, so we're targeting to ship MBF when we ship WinFS," acknowledged John Montgomery, director of marketing for Microsoft's developer division. "There's still some technology rationalization going on, so dates and features may change — standard caveat this early in the process — but that's plan of record."

In addition to announcing the company was cutting WinFS from Longhorn, Microsoft officials also said last week that the company plans to port Longhorn's Indigo communications and Avalon presentation subsystems to older versions of Windows, specifically Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. Microsoft expects to make these ports available in 2006.

Some Microsoft developers still are speculating that Microsoft may find a way to deliver MBF early.

"Since MBF had previously been tied to WinFS, Indigo, and Avalon, its release timeframe was also tied to Visual Studio 'Orcas,'" said Andrew Brust, chief of new technology for Citigate Hudson, a provider of custom database applications and business intelligence solutions. ("Orcas" is the code name for the version of Visual Studio designed to follow Visual Studio 2005.)

"That is still the plan, last week's Longhorn announcement notwithstanding, and there is even a possibility that MBF could be ready before Orcas," Brust continued. "Additionally, since MBF's dependent technologies are now going to be available for Windows XP/2003, and not just Longhorn, it appears that the OS platforms that will support MBF will thus be enhanced."