New video may reveal Longhorn UI

On August 17, 2003, I received an email from an anonymous source offering me a short video of the upcoming Longhorn "Aero" user interface. Based on my earlier private preview of the Longhorn user interface, this video appears to be genuine. However, I need to offer some caveats. First, long-time readers know I've spent a lot of time debunking Longhorn "fakes" and this could definitely be a fake: Given the availability of excellent tools today, it would be relatively easy for someone to fake a high-quality movie. (On the other hand, as I've said, this does resemble the Longhorn UI work I've already seen.) Second, the video doesn't show much, just the first few seconds after a user logs onto the system. Only a new desktop backdrop, taskbar and Start button, My Computer icon, and MSN Messenger window are shown. It is the taskbar area that concerns me most: This is the part that resembles the Longhorn UI I've already seen, with a hump-like curve over the tray notification area; in the preview I saw previously, the entire taskbar area was curved with three overlapping humps, making it seem more organic than Windows XP. I believe the other humps were actually minimized windows.

So, the obvious question is, "Is it real?" I honestly can't say. But I am offering a collection of still frames from it here because it's so close to what I've already seen. Time, of course, will tell the tale. Enjoy!

View the Video images

SOURCE: WINSUPERSITE

reading at the bottom, he posted the verdict:

Since posting these shots, I've received the background image used in this video and determined that the video must be fake. Here's my own desktop, tarted up to look like this supposed Longhorn desktop. A hearty "well done" to whoever submitted this fantastic bit of chicanery. This was the first bit of Longhorn trickery I actually wondered about.

That doesn't look very Longhorn-ish from the betas that I have seen.

I suspect there's plenty of fakes going around however...