In order to get the next update of its Windows operating system out the door, Microsoft will delay some of the key improvements that had been planned.

As expected, the company on Friday announced a road map for Longhorn, its revision to Windows XP. The changes will allow the company to meet its most recent timetable: to have a beta version ready by next year and a final release for 2006.

"In order to make this date, we've had to simplify some things, to stagger it. One of the things we're staggering is the Windows storage work," Jim Allchin, Microsoft's vice president in charge of Windows development, said in an interview with CNET News.com. "We’ll still have rapid search covering the data just as we planned."

Longhorn was originally supposed to have three major changes: a new file system, WinFS; a new graphics and presentation engine known as Avalon; and Indigo, a Web services and communication architecture.

Microsoft is making changes to all three pillars. WinFS will be available as a beta when the Longhorn release comes out as a client. Avalon and Indigo will be part of Longhorn, but also made available separately at the time the client ships for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003.
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Source : CNET News