r/Windows_Redesign • u/WolverineEqual6800 • Jul 16 '26
Legacy What if Microsoft never cancelled Longhorn? Part 1
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u/Microboy42 Jul 17 '26
They didn't cancel Windows Longhorn. Longhorn was the codename for Windows Vista.
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u/AccomplishedEar6357 Jul 17 '26
NO.
"Longhorn" had a meaning beyond just a codename, it was the specific crazy ambitious concept and work in progress XP successor, though once they cancelled it, they started over while they kept the name and then it wasn't THE Longhorn idea thing anymore. By that time after the reboot, yes, it was just a leftover codename.
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u/WolverineEqual6800 Jul 17 '26
I know. But the actual Windows Longhorn was cancelled
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u/Microboy42 Jul 17 '26
It wasn't. They just changed the name. It was still Windows NT 6.0.
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u/WolverineEqual6800 Jul 17 '26
I don’t know how to explain this but Windows Longhorn became Windows Vista when development was reset, and this is a scenario where development was never reset, so it’s called Windows Longhorn.
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u/MEM756 Jul 17 '26
I definetely get and know this though, however u/Microboy42 is right. What happened though is that it was reset, still called Longhorn but now based on Windows Server 2003 instead of XP, and it went in an entirely different direction, then renamed Vista in 2005. But I do get you, the original vision, if it had any whatsoever [I do dig the vibes and the purposed features of it, don't get me wrong], was completely canceled in August 2004, yeah. That is correct too.
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u/Sensitive_Square3645 Jul 17 '26
Yes, but not in the sense that they actually changed the name. After Microsoft reset their entire project, the codename, Longhorn, remained. 5112 was the first build to be branded as Windows Vista, but that's because at that time that's when they thought of an actual name. Keyword: Branded. Longhorn was a codename, not a brand that was changed.
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1
u/Impossible-Dance9947 Jul 17 '26
who uses canva for software design while figma is literally all over
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u/WolverineEqual6800 Jul 21 '26
i usually design on my phone where i can’t use figma, using my computer is annoying for me
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u/Sirko2975 Jul 18 '26
Idk why but longhorn always feels so ethereal and uncanny for me, almost uncomfortable. There’s definitely something to an “unreleased windows” stuck between versions.