"We've heard loud and clear from customers that they want improved productivity, easier deployment, increased reliability and enhanced security, as well as the many innovations we've been working on," said Jim Allchin, group vice president of the Platforms Group at Microsoft, as he announced on Friday that the company is targeting broad availability of the Windows client operating system code-named "Longhorn" in 2006, and make key elements of the Windows WinFX developer platform in "Longhorn" available for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003.

"Our long-term vision for the Windows platform remains the same," Allchin continued. He then addressed the much-publicized postponement of WinFS:

"We've had to make some trade-offs to deliver the features corporate customers, consumers and OEMs are asking for in a reasonable time frame."

Chairman and chief software architect Bill Gates said: "Getting 'Longhorn' to customers in 2006 will provide important advances in performance, security and reliability, and will help accelerate the creation of exciting new applications by developers across the industry."

It is all systems go for WinFX on the other hand, Microsoft announced:

"At a meeting today with several hundred of the company’s top developer evangelists from around the world, Microsoft also announced that the Windows WinFX developer technologies, including the new presentation subsystem code-named "Avalon" and the new communication subsystem code-named Indigo, will be made available for Microsoft Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 in 2006. This availability will expand the scope of opportunity for developers by enabling them to write applications that can run on hundreds of millions of PCs, resulting in enhanced experiences for users of those operating systems."

"Avalon" is the graphics subsystem that Microsoft says will enable developers to build applications that provide "breakthrough user experiences."

Friday's announcements relate only to the "Longhorn" client operating system. Anticipated availability for the Windows "Longhorn" Server operating system continues to be 2007.