Paul Thurrot, famous for the information regarding future Microsoft programs, posted on the WinSupersite website some data regarding version 11 of the multimedia player developed in Redmond by the software industry giant, more explicitly Windows Media Player 11.

This new version, to be code-named Polaris, should be available starting with the first months of 2006, and will be compatible with Windows XP and not Windows Longhorn, as previously thought.

In fact, even the player's name has been modified with respect to the initial decision, when Windows Media Player 11 was identified as Aurora. Microsoft cancelled this project, that was due to present only a very small number of improvements compared to the previous version, and all the plans were ruined.

Thus, Polaris, aka Windows Media Player 11 is appraised to be a completely changed edition, whose release date will be postponed with respect to the initial one, announced for November. However, considering the substantial number of changes promised by Microsoft, a delay of several months should not be such big a deal.

A first beta version of Polaris should be available from November, in about the same time as the Beta 2 version of the Longhorn operating system.