14 DAY TRIAL // Most users aren't bothered by the lack of a powerful graphics card because using plain Office applications and everyday software that doesn't involve 3D operations doesn't justify cashing out on an expensive graphics chip. And Windows doesn't have very "expensive" needs to run either, everything that needs to be displayed is just plain 2D imaging. Well, all of that is about to change once the long awaited Longhorn OS will knock at our PC's entrance sometime next year. The new OS also promises security features and hack-proof components that more closely resemble those in Linux and Mac OS X than those in past Windows.
What Microsoft has in mind is change the way Windows looks and feels and for that Longhorn will feature a graphics subset called WGF (Windows Graphic Foundation) which will unify 2D and 3D graphics operation in one and will combine 2D Windows imaging and 3D operations. For today's systems, 3D is put to work using a Direct subset with the current version 9.0c, which added Shader Model 3.0 support, one of the major new features in NVIDIAs GeForce 6800 graphics processors.
Longhorn will use 3D menus and 3D interfaces and will require at least Shader 2.0 compliant cards, so no more onboard graphics will step up for the task, not even for basic Office use. Gamers and everyday users will have the same shopping wish list when it comes to graphics and the only thing they'll all have in mind is more power. Windows will actually run faster or slower depending on the performances of the video card. There's one marketing plan graphic vendors didn't have in mind, but they sure welcome it all the way.
And if choosing between graphic cards isn't enough to confuse the average user, he could also have a pretty hard time deciding which Longhorn version suits him best. Microsoft insider Paul Thurrott, who publishes the SuperSite for Windows Web site, claims that Longhorn will ship in seven different versions when the operating system wraps. These could be are a Starter Edition (similar to Windows XP Starter, the edition Microsoft's pitching to developing countries), Home, Premium/Media, Professional, Small Business, Mobility/Tablet PC, and finally, "a new product edition that bridges the consumer and business versions and includes all of the features from the Home, Premium, Pro, Small Business, and Tablet PC Editions.