Trilight Zone

[digital8]

“Wait a minute, it can be possible!” I almost screamed at a fellow that gave us some unofficial details about Microsoft plans to work on the next-next version of Windows Server, code-named Blackcomb. You as a vendor have not yet released Longhorn and are looking into its replacement?

On the same token, let's not forget that nowadays Microsoft has to work harder to overcome Linux and Apple. Competition again has spoken, and the fact that a vendor is already planning and preparing another version adds to the consumer benefits. It may be that the smart fellows at Redmond are aggressively challenge the industry beyond its current capabilities. Why not pushing the OS far beyond its known limits?

Now one would ask me what are the technologies that could be further developed! Have you heard about application firewalls, something like the current SP2 desktop firewall? Or about Remote Differential Compression, a file type-independent technology that replicates changes to files over the WAN rather than replicating the entire file? Where did application firewall originate from? It is a fact that users are thriving for a different type of experience that would enable them to access information from different locations and type in a transparent manner. Therefore the need for a secure channel of communication arises between the application and the user, which evolved into a firewall approach.

And if you analyze the hardware trends, particular the storage, you would see the ascending curve taken in the last several years. Where this leads me? In another several years portables will probably be shipped with a terabyte of storage, which triggers more data being copied and saved locally. Another area where Microsoft may be looking into is the protection of the personal and corporate local data.

Recently operating system virtualization has become a major talking point and with its Virtual PC and Virtual Server getting new releases year after year it is expected Microsoft to further elaborate on it. Have you noticed that Virtual products currently lack support for Linux and other non Microsoft OS's? You should expect a solution from there!

As for me, I can not wait to get my hands on Longhorn RC1 and for new year on Blackcomb.