June 22, 2007 8:04 AM PDT

Microsoft doesn't want Longhorn reloaded

In unsurprising news, Microsoft has finally put a stop to the "Longhorn Reloaded" project, an effort to continue development of an early version of Windows "Longhorn," the precursor of Windows Vista.

The programmers wanted to keep working with an early version of Longhorn, which still had features, such as WinFS, that were later cut. Of course, despite some moves to get along with the open source world, Microsoft hasn't exactly decided to make its crown jewel (even test versions of it) free for the world to modify.

Nonetheless, the group behind Longhorn Reloaded expressed dismay at Redmond's move, saying in a recent posting that it had received a cease and decist letter from Microsoft.

"It deeply saddens me that although Microsoft have known about this project for many months they only issued us with this notice a few days after we started to distribute the iso via torrents and ftp server," the project's senior administrator said in the posting, adding that any links to the code or requests for a download link posted on the site would be deleted.

Mary Jo Foley noted the project's demise in a recent posting on her ZDNet blog.

Recent posts from News Blog
Sprint HTC Touch Diamond outed early
Woman to virtual ex: 'I won't be ignored!'
Swiss secret sauce to power green choppers
iLink to deliver answers to military online communities
Vonage names new CEO
Add a Comment (Log in or register) 10 comments
why?
by qwerty75 June 22, 2007 8:51 AM PDT
What a waste of development time.

There is nothing in Longhorn or Vista worth anything.

If you want to put that kind of effort towards something, why not an OSS operating system? They won't stab you in the back and you will be actually working with quality software.
Reply to this comment View reply
Illustration of MS corporate strategy
by weegg June 22, 2007 9:12 AM PDT
Afraid independent developers would get winfs working because
they aren't as concerned with backward compatibility as Redmond.

Anyway, its a mute point with zfs coming on to the scene which
blows out winfs and all present day formats.
Reply to this comment View all 2 replies
Powered by Jive Software
advertisement

Latest tech news headlines

Resource center from News.com sponsors
Aligning CIO & CEO visions
What CIOs need to know

It's a simple truth. The closer you and your CEO see things, the greater your chance for success. Our exclusive report can help you get there—and help your business grow. To get the report, featuring the views of 765 CEOs on innovation. click here

Click Here!
What CEOs think: Innovation Insights for CIOs

Learn How CIOs can deliver strategic success for their enterprises

The New CIO: Beyond Technology

Learn how CIOs become heroes

Podcast: Chris Gorog of Napster

Learn about the impact of technology in strategy execution

The future of the Enterprise

Read more about tomorrow's organization

About News Blog

Recent posts on technology, trends, and more.

Add this feed to your online news reader

News Blog topics

Featured blogs

advertisement
advertisement
Click Here

Inside CNET News

Scroll Left Scroll Right
  • News - Business Tech

    Samsung contemplating SanDisk acquisition

    South Korean consumer electronics giant is considering a buyout of the chipmaker to reduce its NAND flash memory costs, according to PaidContent.

  • Gallery

    Photos: Ron Paul's RNC alternative

    As the Republican convention took place just miles away, a crowd rallied for the former presidential candidate and his message of limited government, ensured civil liberties, lower taxes, and peace.

  • The Open Road

    Analysts as a lagging indicator of success

    Gartner, Forrester, and other analyst firms tend to be great predictors of the past, probably because that's where they get their money.

  • Beyond Binary

    Memo: Windows chief on new ads

    Windows business unit head Bill Veghte send a memo to troops late Thursday promising that the debut Seinfeld/Bill Gates ad was just an "icebreaker."

  • Video

    YouTube plays party politics

    During the presidential campaigning four years ago, YouTube didn't even exist. Now it's a tool candidates must master to get their message across. CNET's Kara Tsuboi stops by the YouTube upload booths at the Democratic and Republican conventions to find out why Google's video site has such a big presence in Denver and St. Paul, Minn.

  • News - Digital Media

    About time: Joost to launch browser-based player

    Company's desktop client failed to catch on with the public, so the Web video service is retooling, but is it too late to catch up to Hulu and Google's YouTube?

  • Video

    Political party playlists

    We know the Democrats and Republicans are split over policy issues, but does their musical taste fall down party lines too? And what kind of gadgets did they bring to the conventions to listen to their music? CNET reporter Kara Tsuboi finds out.

  • News - Politics and Law

    Google and 'Vanity Fair' party with the GOP

    Google and Vanity Fair hosted one of the most talked-about parties at the Republican convention.

  • News - Cutting Edge

    Execs predict next Google-like tech

    On eve of company's 10-year anniversary, researchers and business pundits speculate about what technologies might someday have as much impact as Google.

  • Gallery

    Photos: The brains behind Google Chrome

    Here's a look at some of the engineers and executives who took the stage at the company's headquarters as they unveiled the new browser.

  • The Car Tech blog

    Review: 2008 BMW 128i Convertible

    CNET Car Tech reviews the 2008 BMW 128i Convertible.

  • Green Tech

    Duke Energy to invest in mini solar power plants

    Can hundreds of rooftop solar panels collectively operate like a central power plant? Duke Energy launches $100 million distributed solar program to find out.