In the first part of the series, Paul talked about the 2001 to 2002 timeframe where Longhorn emerges from the secret corners of Microsoft engineers.
In part 2, 2003 is covered talking about leaked builds, the beginnings of delays, adding of features, troubles of WinFS, and more.
It really has been a long road to RTM for this Windows release and the more I think about it, the more I ask if current and past approaches to Windows (and Mac OS, and Linux) are valid any longer. With the potential of Web 2.0 coming to fruition by many, many new talented people – do we need a fat legacy client any more?
That said, Windows Vista is an impressive piece of code, and its history detailed in Paul’s articles are a fun read.
Paul Thurrott’s Windows SuperSite – Road to Gold: The Long Road to Windows Vista Part 2: 2003