MaximumPC 2004 10

OCTOBER 2004 MA XIMUMPC 33

code can describe and enact both 2D ele-

ments and 3D elements at the same time.

One of the really handy side benefits

of using XAML for application interfaces

is that programmers can embed the

actual code a program needs into the

XAML file itself. Therefore, anyone with

a text editor, like Notepad , can write pro-

grams—complete with a flashy user inter-

face—using any language that Longhorn

supports, without the need for an expen-

sive software development package like

Visual Studio. Nifty, eh?

We’ve yet to see any user interface

designs from Microsoft that benefit from a

blend of 2D and 3D rendering, but the Alt-

Tab interface pictured on the previous page

makes us feel optimistic. It remains to be

seen how Microsoft will integrate the

Avalon functionality into the main OS.

WinFS: Find Your

Files Fast

You type a phrase into Google, press

Enter, and the answer to your query pops

up in less than half a second. It begs the

question: If Google can search thousands

of terabytes of data on the entire Internet

so quickly, why does it take 20 minutes

for Windows to search the files stored

on your hard drive? The short answer

is that Google searches through well-

ordered databases to find an answer,

and Windows has to search through

each individual file. WinFS—Longhorn’s

brand-new filing system—will bring the

raw speed and convenience of database

searches to Windows.

How does it work? A database file

system is a pretty simple concept, and

has been tried before (the first OS we

tested with a database-driven file sys-

tem was BeOS in 1999). In Microsoft’s

implementation, a next-gen SQL server

layers on top of a NTFS disk. When you

save a file to certain directories—any

folder in the My Documents tree would

be fair game, but beyond that the files

that will be part of WinFS are unknown—

the OS will automatically index its con-

tents and save it to the database.

How does this benefit the end user?

Right now, if you want to find an Outlook

contact, you have to open Outlook and

use the built-in search function. With

WinFS, you’ll be able to open a Windows

search dialog and simply type in the

contact’s name. Even better, not only

will you find the contact, but you’ll also

find all the relevant e-mails, any Word

documents and Excel spreadsheets that

include the contact’s name, and any digi-

tal photos bearing that name in the meta-

data—all in a fraction of a second. Such

is the power of WinFS.

Get the Newbies Gaming

According to Microsoft, one of the primary

goals of Longhorn is to make PC gaming

more accessible to the masses. While

Maximum PC readers have no problem

getting their game on (hopefully), playing

games in Windows requires more under-

standing than, say, playing on a console.

The Longhorn team aims to change this by

stealing the best things about console

gaming and integrating them into the

Windows OS.

The central improvement is a My

Games-type of gaming portal, which will

grant access to every installed game from

one handy spot. The games portal, which is

still unnamed, sits in the Start menu. When

you click the Games icon you’ll see a list of

every game on your system. Clicking a

game will give you access to your save

files, any available patches, and even meta-

data about the game, such as the publish-

er’s web site and the game’s ESRB rating.

Heck, Microsoft is even setting up a

Windows Update-style repository for all

patches and game updates, which will con-

veniently download the latest fixes for all

your games when your system is idle.

Longhorn will also let parents limit the

games their children can play, either by

rating or on a game-by-game basis. For

instance, you can specify which accounts

have permission to play which games

using the Games interface when you’re

logged in as an Administrator. Prohibited

games are blocked at the file system level

on a user-by-user basis. Not only will the

shortcuts to the games be removed from

little Timmy’s menus, he won’t even be

able to see their directories!

‘Improving’ Digital

Rights Management

High on our Longhorn watch list is

Microsoft’s enhanced and comprehen-

sive-sounding DRM technology, which is

rumored to unite software-based digital

rights management with lockouts at the

hardware level. The new technology—for-

merly code-named Palladium and now

called the Next-Generation Secure

Computing Base for Windows—prom-

WINDOWS LONGHORN

The new games interface gives you

access to every game installed on your

system at once. You can see whether

there are patches to download, the

rating of each game, and even manage

your saved games.

The most obvious change to

Longhorn’s UI is the Sidebar.

Think of it as a system tray on

steroids. It adds all sorts of nifty

features, like an integrated RSS

feed reader!

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