In its first preview at the Microsoft Professional Developers Conference last year, Windows XP successor Longhorn was shown running a 20-year-old copy of Visicalc. Ancient DOS software won't be the lone occupant of the Longhorn compatibility box. Win32, the Web, and even WinForms -- the .Net era's first GUI framework -- are all legacy APIs from Longhorn's perspective. Their replacements, Microsoft says, will jointly deliver "the best of Windows and the best of the Web."
The proof is still years away. But given the ambitious scope of the project, it's not too soon to consider how Longhorn will affect the vast majority of enterprises deeply invested in both Windows and the Web. How will the transition to Longhorn affect these twin legacies? Which aspects of the new system will embrace open standards, and which will entail lock-in? Will the benefits of the proprietary features outweigh cost? The answers differ for Longhorn's several subsystems; we'll consider each in turn.
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