Wednesday, 25 May 2005

Microsoft Nears Avalon, Indigo Beta 1

Microsoft has rolled out an updated release of "Avalon" and "Indigo," two future Windows subsystems. The release, labeled "Beta 1 Release Candidate," adds two new Longhorn technologies that respectively manage digital identity and flesh out a system for document creation, viewing and printing. The release candidate is a Community Technology Preview (CTP) intended for Microsoft's developers. To recap, Avalon is Longhorn's presentation system and Indigo is the future communications subsystem for Windows. Both components contain aspects of the WinFX programming model, which includes the .NET Framework.

According to Microsoft, Avalon will unify how Windows "creates, displays, manipulates documents, media, and user interfaces," allowing developers to dream up and produce richer interfaces for their applications. The first of the two new technologies included in the Beta 1 RC is "Infocard," a digital identity management system that can be used by any Windows application. Infocard is expected to leverage WS specifications for federated identity management and will provide users with a single login to access services on the Web.