Next in the Microsoft Office line after XP will be Office 11, it will be out sometime next year, but it can only work on Windows 2K and XP. Click here for some Office 11 screenshots.

Also, next in the Microsoft Windows line, rumoured to be called Windows 2004, and Longhorn is the code name for its alpha and beta stages, just like Whistler is the code name for Windows XP alpha and beta stages. Click here for some Windows Longhorn screenshots.

For more information about the 2 softwares, click on the more link below.

Office 11
This release of Office will require that the OS be Windows 2000 (SP3 or higher)
or Windows XP.

There were a number of reasons for removing support for Windows 9x. As a
number of you have noted, Windows 98 and 98 SE are getting a it old now.
It also relates heavily to the push to improve security in our products.
Windows 9x is inherently insecure. It also takes quite a bit of dev time
to make our products work well on Windows 9x. We determined that it would
be more effective to spend that time making our products work better on the
more advanced platforms.

We chose SP3 on Windows 2000 because that service pack includes Windows
Installer 2.0 (which shipped in the RTM release of Windows XP). Installer
2.0 is much better about limiting reboots at install time and when applying
patches. It also has features that allow us to minimize the need for the
user to insert the CD. Lastly, Installer 2.0 allows us to optimize the
patches so that the size of the patch is much smaller. We did that with
Office XP SP2 when downloaded from the Products Update page (SP2 is only 6
mb when Installer 2.0 is installed vs 15 mb for Installer 1.x).

We understand that this decision won’t be popular among all of our
customers, but it allows us to create a better and more stable product.

Source : The Digital Resource.

Windows Longhorn
It’s been exactly a year since Microsoft launched Windows XP. So, what’s the operating system kingpin doing for an encore?

Microsoft says it’s all Longhorn, all the time. Platforms Group VP Jim Allchin and others on the Windows team say that Microsoft already is well on its way toward developing this next major version of Windows for clients and servers. And the fact that alleged screen shots of an early alpha Longhorn build leaked across the Web this week would seem to indicate that Microsoft is proceeding quite nicely with Longhorn.

But, as both Microsoft watchers and industry analysts have noted, something doesn’t add up with Longhorn. Microsoft’s top brass have taken to referring to Longhorn as a 2005 technology (despite the fact that the leaked screen shots still label the product as “Windows 2004”). But remember: Software Assurance licensees of Microsoft products are expecting some kind of Windows upgrade by 2004, given Microsoft’s commitment to upgrade its products within a three-year window.

There are also rumors swirling about that Microsoft could just leapfrog the Longhorn server. In this scenario, Microsoft would bundle up a minor Windows XP upgrade with the latest service pack full of fixes, slap a “Longhorn” label on it and deliver that in 2004. On the server side, Microsoft could jump ahead to its post-Longhorn release, code-named Blackcomb, and roll that out by 2006.

Source : iexbeta.com.

Can expect to see more screenshots of these 2 softwares soon.