Microsoft Refreshes Avalon, Indigo Beta Builds

Microsoft is still not yet at Beta 1 for its next-gen Windows subsystems. But it has added InfoCard identity and 'Metro' printing support to the latest releases.

Microsoft Corp. made available for download on Monday an updated beta release of two of its future Windows subsystems: the "Avalon" presentation and the "Indigo" communication ones.

As part of the new beta release—which Microsoft has christened Beta 1 Release Candidate (RC)—the company also is making available to testers a first beta release of a number of new technologies due to debut in Longhorn, the version of Windows due out in 2006. Among these new beta bits:

A first release of Microsofts InfoCard technology;

A first beta release of the recently announced Microsoft "Metro" document publishing technology;

A first pass of a new speech application programming interface that will be key to Microsofts updated speech recognition and speech synthesis technologies. Read the full story on Microsoft Watch: Microsoft Refreshes Avalon, Indigo Beta Builds