Conference will allow developers to examine, discuss the successor to Windows XP.

Microsoft has set a date for a second Longhorn-themed Professional Developers Conference (PDC). The event will be held in September 2005, almost two years after the company first detailed the Windows XP successor at the 2003 PDC.

Longhorn has undergone a lot of changes since the unveiling. Microsoft has sacrificed some key advances it had planned for the operating system to be able to make a 2006 ship date. Also, Microsoft now plans to offer updates for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 to support technologies that previously were reserved for Longhorn.

At the second Longhorn PDC, to be held September 13 through September 16 in Los Angeles, Microsoft should be able to give developers more concrete information on the operating system. A first Longhorn beta is scheduled to be available in the first half of 2005, several months before the event.

Also, Visual Studio 2005, a new release of Microsoft's developer toolset, is due out several months before the 2005 PDC.

Microsoft has distributed several preview releases of Longhorn, including ones at the 2003 PDC and at the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference in May 2004. However, with all the changes, it could be risky for developers to start programming for the operating system, as their work might depend on features that get cut, one analyst says.

"The timing of this PDC will be better because we will get builds of the product that are more representative of what it is going to look like when it is done," says Michael Cherry, a lead analyst with Directions on Microsoft, in Kirkland, Washington. "I would like to know when the feature set gets locked down."
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Source : IDG News Service