Orcas

Although Orcas will be in beta testing well before it releases with Longhorn itself, few specifics are available. Microsoft says it will include support for Longhorn's "trustworthy computing" model and Windows Future Storage, as well as all of the user interface enhancements in Longhorn.

Orcas will support model-driven development using Universal Modeling Language (UML), possibly with Microsoft-specific extensions. Developers will be able to define data and processes at a high level using UML, automatically generating code to match the model, as Java programmers have done for five years. Whidbey will include a preliminary version of UML.

Possibly most important to developers, Orcas will fully support Longhorn's "managed interfaces." Managed code under .NET is type-safe and reliable; with Longhorn, the Windows API consists entirely of managed code.