Longhorn the focus of new Windows group

MICROSOFT is throwing a heap more resources into a specialised group dedicated to delivering its next breakthrough operating system, codenamed Longhorn.

This OS, according to Microsoft chief architect Bill Gates, will cost more to develop than it did the US government to put a man on the moon.

There might be more men on the moon before it sees the light of day.

The firm today has started the Windows Core Operating Systems Division, with Brian Valentine headin gup the division, according to an internal memo.

The idea is to concentrate Microsoft developments more closely.

No one is completely sure when Longhorn is supposed to arrive - with estimates varying widely. Hardware manufacturers including Intel, Nvidia and a heap of others have already got their PCI Express together, and when they're given a chance have a good old grumble at Microsoft for slowing down the whole move to a better kind of PC.

But Microsoft is impervious to the slings and arrows of outraged Fortune 500 companies that also specialise in IT, it appears. µ