Friday’s announcement also included news that the software giant has ditched the code name Longhorn. Instead it will call the new operating system Windows Vista.
"Beta 1 [of Windows Vista] is almost exclusively a plumbing release,” Microsoft spokesman Greg Sullivan said. “Our view that the end user functionality is not in beta 1, it's in beta 2.”
The next version of Microsoft Corp.’s flagship Windows operating system also is formatted to better protect computers against viruses and spyware.
Vista's features are slated to include more efficient ways to visualize data, better file organization and faster searching.
Meanwhile, Microsoft also said it remains on target to ship the often-delayed update to Windows XP sometime in the second half of next year.
The Redmond, Wash.-based company launched Friday a website that tracks development of Vista. It can be viewed here.
