A security architecture touted as one of the core benefits of Microsoft's next major Windows upgrade look like being the next casualty of the Longhorn death march.

Mary Jo Foley reports (http://www.microsoft-watch.com/article2/0,1995,1820607,00.asp) that only some parts of Longhorn will be based on .NET 2.0, rather than the entire OS, as originally intended. If this latest bout of indigestion (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/03/18/microsoft_longhorn_indigestion/) is true, developers gain compatibility at the expense of the superior developer environment of .NET.

But the casualty, as we predicted a year ago, looks like being the ground-up Managed Code architecture which forbids one process from hijacking another: a favorite ploy of malware. (Managed Code is very succinctly summarized here (http://blogs.msdn.com/brada/archive/2004/01/09/48925.aspx).) So Managed Code is a good thing: a key weapon in the war against viruses.

It's long been rumored as a casualty, as we wrote in May 2004 (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/05/06/microsoft_managed_code_rethink/) -

"All of this points to the Managed Code API project being offshored to somewhere closer to Siberia, and more modest lock-downs, such as No Execute pages (due to appear in XP Service Pack 2) being promoted as a good-enough answer."

Mary Jo reminds us that last summer Microsoft "decoupled" WinFS search and storage technology from Longhorn and out into a service pack, throwing in the sweetener for corporates reluctant to upgrade that the Avalon UI libraries would be available on XP. Now she wonders if the latest roadmap modification will be publicly acknowledged.

We think it will. Probably with a press release entitled "Longhorn Promises Greater Compatibility" with the task of imagining the additional words "than we originally planned" being left as an exercise for the reader. ®

Related decouplings

Avalon, WinFS decoupled for Windows Shorthorn (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/08/31/avalon_winfs_decoupled/)
(Almost) everything may go, as Longhorn rushes to release (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/05/10/longhorn_feature_set/)
MS Trusted Computing back to drawing board (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/05/06/microsoft_managed_code_rethink/)
No Windows XP SE as Longhorn jettisons features (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/04/09/longhorn_overboard/)
MS delays Yukon (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/03/11/ms_delays_yukon/)
Windows Shorthorn is dead-on-arrival (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/03/03/windows_shorthorn_is_deadonarrival/)
Even Microsoft can't wait for Longhorn (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/03/01/even_microsoft_cant_wait/)
MS moves into get Longhorn on the road mode (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2003/12/16/ms_moves_into_get_longhorn/)
Longhorn to erase Cairo mis-step with 1995 ship date (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2003/10/27/longhorn_to_erase_cairo_misstep/)
Windows Longhorn build leak starts hype two years early (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2003/10/26/windows_longhorn_build_leak_starts/)
Longhorn RTM what it means to you (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2003/10/09/longhorn_rtm_what_it_means/)
Microsoft delays Longhorn. Again (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2003/09/02/microsoft_delays_longhorn_again/)
Only kidding? MS may ship Longhorn server after all (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2003/03/20/only_kidding_ms_may_ship/)
Gates confirms Windows Longhorn for 2003, Blackcomb MIA? (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2001/10/24/gates_confirms_windows_longhorn/)

Related stories

Indigo not so open as .NET Framework? (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/05/26/ndigo_mono_no_no/)
New Microsoft Longhorn chief is indigestion expert (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/03/18/microsoft_longhorn_indigestion/)
Microsoft going to JavaOne (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/05/25/_microsoft_javaone/)