Although the next version of Windows is still about two years from release, Microsoft on Friday offered developers an early look at the new graphics engine that will accompany it.
The Redmond, Wash.-based software powerhouse released what it calls a "community technology preview" of the Avalon presentation engine for Windows. It's not a full beta, or test, version, but rather an incomplete set of code that lets developers test certain features and pass along their thoughts to Microsoft.
"It's basically a build that has a couple new features that we want to test out with customers," said John Montgomery, a director in Microsoft's developer division. "This is just our way of getting feedback." Avalon was originally envisioned as a core feature of Longhorn, the next version of Windows. It will still be a part of that operating system, but it will also be made available as an add-on for users of Windows XP and Windows Server 2003.
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