The popular belief is that pre-reset "Longhorn" builds are based on Windows XP. This was likely spurred by Paul Thurrott's statement on his review of build 5048: "The problem, I was told recently, was that the underpinnings of Longhorn--then based on the Windows XP code base--were struggling under the weight of all of the technologies that Microsoft planed to implement in this release."[5] However, pre-reset "Longhorn" builds are based, not on XP, but on Windows Server 2003 release candidate code. The xpclient release branch, dedicated to XP, spun off from the main branch in 2001. The main branch continued to compile Server 2003 builds at the 3xxx range, such as build 3663 (release candidate 1), until the dnsrv branch dedicated to Server 2003 spun off from the main branch in 2002. After that, the main branch began compiling Longhorn builds.[6]
FULL Windows \"Codename\" Longhorn build 5048
Several different logos were created throughout the development of "Longhorn". Early builds used 2D and 3D representations of a longhorn bull; later builds included white or glass versions of the Windows flag.
In April 2005, build 5048 was released to testers on WinHEC 2005 to show off the total progress made after the reset, which also demonstrably proved to be significantly more stable over previous builds, despite insiders raising some concerns over the then-current state of the operating system's lacking feature set at the time. The first leaked build after the development reset was 5098. Build 5112 (Beta 1) was released to the public soon afterward in July and showcased an early version of the Aero interface, as well as many stability improvements over Windows XP. Over the course of two years, many builds (which were dubbed by Microsoft as Community Technology Previews) were released to testers through a public beta program. The final build that was pushed out to public preview testers was Release Candidate 2 (build 5744). The RTM build was build 6000.16386, compiled on 1 November 2006 and released to manufacturing on 8 November 2006. The operating system finally reached general availability on 30 January 2007.
Build 4074 (build date of April 25, 2004) is the official WinHEC 2004 preview build. Leaked in May 2004. This is also the most familiar pre-reset build. It was the first leaked build to have complete Aero effects in Windows Explorer and Internet Explorer from the Desktop Window Manager; however, a registry modification was required to extend the effect into the full UI.[15]
Build 5048 (build date of April 1, 2005) was the official WinHEC 2005 preview build, described as the Longhorn Developer Preview, and made available to WinHEC attendees on April 24, 2005. It was the only build from this period that was made available by Microsoft; it was not officially distributed outside of WinHEC, but the build quickly appeared on file-sharing networks. The Aero visual style made its first appearance in this build, and the Desktop Window Manager was present but disabled and hidden by default. At the keynote presentation, Bill Gates also announced that many of the WinFX developer APIs that were originally planned exclusively for Longhorn was going to be backported to Windows XP and Server 2003 and that the final user interfaces for Longhorn would not be seen for a while longer. Other features such as device-independent resolutions, rasterized icons, virtual folders, and registry virtualization were discussed as well. The debug checked version was leaked in December 2021.
Build 5048's closer resemblance to Windows XP than to the prior Longhorn builds from 2003 and 2004 surprised many, leading well-known Windows enthusiast Paul Thurrott to write: "My thoughts are not positive, not positive at all. This is a painful build to have to deal with after a year of waiting, a step back in some ways. I hope Microsoft has surprises up their sleeves. This has the makings of a train wreck."[26] Months later, Thurrott stated that the Vista development process has since recovered in the more recent builds.
Release Candidate 2 (RC2) (built on October 3, 2006, with a build number of 5744.16384), was released to CPP members, TAP testers, MSDN/Technet subscribers, and other technical beta testers on Friday, October 6, 2006, and was available for download until October 9 in preparation for the final release of Windows Vista. Because of an aggressive development schedule, this was the final build that would be officially released to the general public for testing. Nevertheless, all pre-release product keys will work until the final RTM build. Several testers reported that RC2 was faster and more stable than build 5728.[60] However, because RC2, which was a regular interim build, and not a major milestone as the name suggests, was not as rigorously tested as RC1, RC1 may have been more stable in certain situations. This build fixed many compatibility issues that plagued previous builds. Vista's GUI, which continued to be improved, contained some minor tweaks, one of the more prominent of which was the new ability to customize the color, but not the transparency, of maximized windows. In previous builds, windows became predominantly black when maximized, an effect that could not be altered by users.[61] A Control Panel icon for Windows Sideshow was also added.
Microsoft announced that Service Pack 1 had been finalized on February 4, 2008, only 1 year after Vista's general availability. The final build of Service Pack 1 went live on Tuesday, March 18, 2008, over the Microsoft Download Center, and Windows Update.[74] This build has been confirmed by sources at Microsoft as being the same code as RC Refresh 2, also giving it the same build number. The full build string of both this release and Refresh 2 is "6001.18000.longhorn_rtm.080118-1840".
Build 6001.18063 (release date of June 24, 2008). Microsoft Released KB952709 as a Reliability and Performance update for Windows Vista this build is notable for two reasons. First, This is the first publicly released update that increases Vista build number beyond the 6001.18000 (final) build of Service Pack 1. Second, this build replaces the 6001. longhorn_rtm.080118-1840 build a string of SP1 with 6001.vistasp1_gdr.080425-1930. The longhorn build string was present during the early development of Vista but was not seen in the official release build or any update after until it was reintroduced during the SP1 beta and was left in when SP1 was released, this build marks its removal from the only release version of Vista to contain the longhorn codename prominently.
Availability: Despite being discontinued for almost a decade, it's still relatively common - especially with the fact that until August 2012, Windows XP was the most commonly used operating system; and many embedded systems still make use of it. Support ended in April 2014. Also seen in Windows Server 2003 and the last few Windows Whistler betas, as well as early Windows Longhorn builds until build 4008. It can still be seen on computers running Windows Embedded 2009, as a small few kiosks in retail stores and banks still contain the OS. Support for the embedded OS was fully discontinued on April 9, 2019.
Availability: Extinct. Seen on Longhorn from builds 4042 (lab06)-4093, which were made before the reset, builds after the reset until 5048 used XP's boot screen with a updated copyright notice.
Build 5048 (built on April 1, 2005) was the official WinHEC 2005 preview build, described as the Longhorn Developer Preview, and made available to WinHEC attendees on April 24, 2005. It was the only build from this time period that was made available by Microsoft; it was not officially distributed outside of WinHEC, but the build quickly appeared on file sharing networks. The Aero visual style made its first appearance in this build, and the Desktop Window Manager was present but disabled and hidden by default. At the keynote presentation, Bill Gates also announced that many of the WinFX developer APIs that were originally planned exclusively for Longhorn were going to be backported to Windows XP and Server 2003, and that the final user interface for Longhorn would not be seen for a while longer. Other features such as device-independent resolutions, rasterized icons, virtual folders, and registry virtualization were discussed as well.
Build 5048's closer resemblance to Windows XP than to the prior Longhorn builds from 2003 surprised many, leading well-known Windows enthusiast Paul Thurrott to write: "My thoughts are not positive, not positive at all. This is a painful build to have to deal with after a year of waiting, a step back in some ways. I hope Microsoft has surprises up their sleeves. This has the makings of a train wreck."[23] Months later, Thurrott stated that the Vista development process has since recovered in the more recent builds.
Release Candidate 2 (RC2) (built on October 3, 2006 with a build number of 5744.16384), was released to CPP members, TAP testers, MSDN/Technet subscribers, and other technical beta testers on Friday, October 6, 2006, and was available for download until October 9. Because of an aggressive development schedule, this was the final build that would be officially released to the general public for testing. Nevertheless, all pre-release product keys will work until the final RTM build. Several testers reported that RC2 was faster and more stable than build 5728.[55] However, because RC2, which was a regular interim build, and not a major milestone as the name suggests, was not as rigorously tested as RC1, RC1 may have been more stable in certain situations. This build fixed many compatibility issues that plagued previous builds. Vista's GUI, which continued to be improved, contained some minor tweaks, one of the more prominent of which was the new ability to customize the color, but not the transparency, of maximized windows. In previous builds, windows became predominantly black when maximized, an effect that could not be altered by users.[56] A Control Panel icon for Windows Sideshow was also added. 2ff7e9595c
Comments