Longhorn's new graphics system under scrutiny

Avalon, the new graphics sub-system that Microsoft plans to include in its upcoming Longhorn operating system, lets developers mix 3-D features into designs by simply including them in the markup along with the rest of the user interface. To some, like Microsoft tech evangelist Karsten Januszewski, Avalon holds a lot of promise, but there are also skeptics. Among the attendees at the latest FITC conference in Toronto was Dave Shea, who sat in on Januszewski’s presentation on Avalon. In a post on his elegant Mezzoblue blog, Shea questions the system's native 3D rendering support, convinced that the technology has nothing more to offer than Quartz, Apple's advanced screen rendering system for OS X. 

Itching to see what Avalon can do? Click here for some screen shots from a demo that show a pretty cool way to search through the Amazon database for a digicam.