From a news.com article, Jim Allchin points out that even now Microsoft have been forced to strip WinFS (the database-backed "find where you dropped your car-keys" filesystem) out of Longhorn in order to make the 2006 ship date (The Register cites anonymous sources claiming that the new composited UI, Avalon, is also in danger), there are still a lot of great new features awaiting users two years hence:

Still, he said, dubbing Longhorn without WinFS as "Shorthorn" is "derogatory," because the operating system "is packed full of capabilities." Some of the features he mentioned were "great roaming support," .Net Framework 2.0, "new browsing capabilities," the "fresh" user interface, improved migrations and deployments, "more resilience to malware" and "a new photo experience."

Phew, am I glad to hear that. I was starting to get worried that my poor, benighted Windows-using brethren would be forced to wait another five years for their new photo experience.

I was going to point out how suspicious it was that Scoble has vanished for this particular weekend, but I'm afraid someone would think I was being serious.

Schadenfreude is such an ugly thing.