Microsoft Next Generation Developement Platform

I had read about Orcas in differant sites and differant blogs. Orca mean 'One really cool app'.

A later Visual Studio.Net release, code-named Orcas, will be tuned specifically for Longhorn, the next major release of Microsoft's desktop version of Windows, which is expected in mid 2006.

Orcas is all about enabling platform adoption for Windows Vista, for Office 12 and for WinFX. We can use Whidbey today to build Vista applications, for example. But Orcas will make it a whole lot easier for people to build Vista applications through easy to use designers

The Orcas release of Visual Studio.Net is being designed to take advantage of changes to Longhorn's user interface.

Orcas will also tap into the so-called managed services of Longhorn, or the security and management capabilities that Microsoft plans to include within Windows. Rather than needing to write code to ensure different levels of security or to manage application deployment, Orcas will let developers tap into Longhorn's built-in security and management features.

Orcas will also enhance Microsoft's strategy of using Web services to integrate its own disparate products and connect into non-Windows applications. Microsoft also plans to introduce versions of Visual Studio.Net that can create applications for both the desktop and the server editions of Longhorn.