ZDNet has the first official confirmation that a Longhorn beta will be out in the first half of this year:
Microsoft is on track to release the first full test version of the next major Windows release by the end of June, a Microsoft executive told CNET News.com on Monday.
The company has said publicly that Beta 1 of Longhorn would arrive by the end of 2005, though internally, the company has been aiming for a release by midyear. The final version of Longhorn is slated for the second half of next year.
“There will be a beta 1 of Longhorn…happening in the first half of this year,” John Montgomery, a director in Microsoft’s developer division, said during an interview at VSLive, a conference devoted to the company’s Visual Studio .Net toolkit. The release will be primarily aimed at developers, Montgomery said. “I do, however, expect that you will find IT departments starting to look at it, kick the tires, figure out what’s in it and what’s not in it.”
If history is any guide, a public beta will appear before the end of this year. This should be very, very interesting.
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