Digital Home Thoughts: Microsoft Shows Off Latest Longhorn Build at WinHEC 2005

WinHEC (Windows Hardware Engineering Conference) is here, and Microsoft is proudly showing off the lastest incarnation of Longhorn (Build 5048) to attendees. This is a preview build, not an actual beta. One important item I need to point out is the "new" interface in this build. Although this is an early look at "Aero" (the upcoming Longhorn GUI design), it IS NOT the finished product. When Longhorn ships in 2006/2007 it will sport a completely different look and feel, just as Whistler (Windows XP) did when it was released. So I don't want to hear any bitching about how ugly Longhorn is, or that Microsoft doesn't know how to design attractive user interfaces. You're just going to make yourself look silly.