The Version of Windows You'll Never See

[@nationsquid]

Start your free trial, then head to squarespace.com/NationSquid to get 10% off your purchase of a website or domain!

[@RadeonVega64]

you're a time traveler lol

[@SeniorHeel]

Bro, the sponsor segment was soo good

[@Hoaiannotweak]

​@@RadeonVega64no, he posted the video in private mode and then commented on it before making it public

[@RadeonVega64]

@@Hoaiannotweak how do you not know what a joke is

[@Hoaiannotweak]

​@@RadeonVega64I know but I don't want to joke too much because I want to be both funny and serious.

[@peanutismint]

I downloaded the leaked Longhorn build in my final year of high school and it felt really forbidden. We had only just made the jump from a 56k modem to DSL but it still took forever. I miss when the internet still felt special and new, like anything was possible.

[@manifestationnation]

Man I remember those days, there were several versions of Longhorn and and Blackcomb floating around.

[@Arroj-y1b]

Same man I leaked it all over it was quite good tbh

[@zachzebra56]

​@@manifestationnation I didn't know there were leaks of Blackcomb too.

[@MrJC1]

🤣🤣

[@sofyankurniawan]

I used longhorn as daily driver, longhorn milestone 5. Its full of bug, and caused my hard disk to be damaged.

[@sploopy256]

There’s a different universe out there where people have nostalgia over Longhorn

[@sauliusvitkauskas8741]

The longhorn builds were really unstable, I dont know how people could have nostalgia over these

[@DomenikXp]

​@@sauliusvitkauskas8741 When longhorn would've been released he meant

[@zachzebra56]

​@@sauliusvitkauskas8741I think he's saying an alternative universe where longhorn actually succeeded the first time and was officially released to the public.

[@benrowland9271]

I was a longhorn user. I really didn’t have many issues with it. Never got to play games on it though 😢

[@IceWolf1102]

@@sauliusvitkauskas8741 still use :o

[@rad4924]

Three Nationsquid videos in one week? This IS a treat!

[@taavi948]

Yeah, what's happening? Usually we have to wait for weeks.

[@verizonthegamer]

@@taavi948 He's from LA, i guess he had to upload these in this week cuz i think his house is damaged....

[@real-csc]

@@verizonthegamer 😬damn

[@Swim_Jonse]

@@verizonthegamer if they were ready to go though he could have released just one in this timeframe. He's clearly got a surplus of content or more likely, he's making more these days. His uploads do seem to be getting more frequent.

[@borntoclimb7116]

Thats great

[@TheStarshipGarage]

Bro’s cooking this week

[@NotMyMemesAtAll]

fr

[@tropicalEcho]

let him cook

[@newaccount877]

frfr

[@ChrisKewl]

Just like a Longhorn Steakhouse!

[@lifeatpaddyspub]

did he have sponsorship deadlines to meet 😅 i ain’t complaining

[@robotomo4249]

Those Longhorn preview videos are absolutely beautiful! I really do miss the days when tech companies tried their best to blur the line between the real world and the digital world. Software back then used to feel special, like you were using a machine from the future and that it somehow connected to the real world around you. In the modern day, Flat design just feels boring, uninviting, sterile and has a clear disconnect from the real world. If I were given the option to choose between Windows 11's Fluent design or Longhorn/Vista/7's Aero design, I'd choose the latter any day! There's something that I find so intriguing and somehow comforting about Windows development builds. Seeing the process from building upon one Windows version to another will never fail to entice me!

[@marcelinal5519]

ughhh totally agree, you really put it in words

[@Super70000]

imo both windows 11 design and the aero design of windos 7/vista look very good i can't choose between them they both look very fucking good

[@avg_ale21]

Nostalgia really hits home...

[@zachzebra56]

There is just something about the Longhorn/Vista/7 aero theme that's just so unique and visually appealing about theme. Arguably the best themes from any Windows OS's.

[@Tropics09-o6d]

see despite the compatabilty issues thats why i use linux

[@AlexandruVoda]

1. The part of the promise of Longhorn that I really miss is WinFS. 2. Despite all the hate Vista got for a variety of justified reasons, it in fact made significant improvements over XP. The beloved Win7 really is a more polished Vista, the big jump was from XP to Vista not from Vista to 7.

[@Varangian_af_Scaniae]

Yeah keep telling yourself that!

[@AlexandruVoda]

@@Varangian_af_Scaniae Provide an argument instead of being sarcastic. What do you actually disagree with?

[@indigomizumi]

Does anyone remember Microsoft's "Mojave Experiment" ads? Windows 7 was the real Mojave Experument.

[@nationsquid]

Totally! I actually really loved Windows Vista when it first came out. Compared to XP, I thought it was leaps ahead into the future in terms of user convenience and looks. I guess I was one of the lucky ones who didn't experience all the Vista problems as badly haha. Thank you for watching!! :)

[@supizgamerpro101]

@@AlexandruVoda Read Varangian's channel description. They admit to being a troll offending people.

[@TheComputerGuy124]

if vista didn't fail, we wouldn't have 7 as the 7 we know

[@lostfan5054]

And 7 was great.

[@Itsgone99]

​@@lostfan50547 was too easy to RAT.

[@aaaaaaaasdfg4]

7 IS vista, technically, a rebranded vista service pack 3, IMO

[@MrJC1]

​@@lostfan5054eventually.

[@KarmaMan82]

Last night I've installed Windows Vista on my Toshiba Satellite Pro L300??? It's hard to find the correct drivers, found out that Toshiba don't produce laptops anymore, so there's no support for drivers. Who the hell is WLAN-Driver for this laptop?? But with legacy update and Supermium i'ts a totaly fine system still today, you need just a antivirus-app for this to get it for a daily driver!

[@andrew_sar]

I remember seeing the betas for Windows Vista and being so excited for it, it had such a different look.

[@sporkamusprime]

One slight correction: Microsoft sent demos of longhorn to subscribers of a specific service. I worked in a school IT department that regularly received demos like this. I don’t recall if it was before or after any alleged leaks, but Microsoft TechNet I think is what it was called.

[@lazayvion]

Media Center (& Zune) Theme in XP was beautiful. Like a Pre-Aero.

[@danzing8835]

The Longhorn intro is BEAUTIFUL.

[@randomdude1053]

Fax bro. Especially with the music. Peaceful freugo aero ambience.

[@zachzebra56]

If your talking startup sounds, they are actually from a Samsung theme pack for Windows XP. Longhorn used all XP sounds all the way up to the early beta versions of Windows Vista.

[@dDAMKErkk]

Mensen zijn verWENT.

[@tubeyou8623]

I re-skinned my windows XP into windows longhorn using windowsblind and bootXp and fooled all of my friends into believing that I had a special access to windows longhorn beta releases. They went bananas to get such an access themselves, the good old days 😂

[@Felix-bj1in]

You are a pure entertainer, and the only KZbinr who gets me to watch the ads. The sponsors need to pay you more money, you are worth it!!!

[@Lachanceuse100]

Huh ? I mean, this is probably a nitpick, but no. Longhorn never got his plug pulled. As the clips you've shown suggest (00:50 ; 00:48 ; 13:12), Longhorn was never anything but a codename and was never intended to be known as-is on final release. The development of Longhorn post reset went all the way into Build 5098 in June 28 2005 as far as we know, only for the definitive name to be agreed to "Vista" and being called as such somewhere during July 2005 in Build 5112 of the OS, marking the 1st true "beta" of the upcoming release.

[@twenty-fifth420]

It is a very strong nitpick though. I get it, but project names are distinct and is like called the Nintendo Switch by its leak name. It is technically incorrect, but they are placeholders in the first place, meant to be discarded. I suspected it was a different version of windows based on the video, but it just sounds like ‘Vista Beta’ or ‘Vista Technical Preview’. Both seem accurate to me. This may be a nitpick. but it is a glaring oversight. Not saying it invalidates the video, but it does make it seem like only half the research was done.

[@halfbakedproductions7887]

I also can't quite remember what Blackcomb was meant to be. Apparently it was intended to be a Server build but eventually became Windows 7.

[@aliceshitpost9327]

you’re killing it with the uploads hope everythings good with the fires over there man

[@antonydandrea]

Wasnt longhorn just the codename for Vista while they were making it

[@MrJC1]

Yep

[@shambien]

Yes exactly

[@HelmerNLv2]

Yes

[@dDAMKErkk]

antonie is ,,,,,,,

[@MartyrKomplx-Prime]

0:18 Ognir Rrats. I see what you did there!

[@JaybeePenaflor]

Thanks for your back-to-back videos! Love your content, by the way!

[@ImNotMania]

im not gonna complain..but why are there more videos than usual??

[@superqaxclub]

Plot twist: this video is AI

[@Epic_C]

He mentioned in his community post a few weeks ago he had to evacuate due to the California fires. I think most of them were ready to release but was delayed because of that.

[@jah_141]

@@Epic_Cahhh that makes so much sense

[@Slickbabygoku]

ur mom

[@MrJC1]

​@@superqaxclubprobably.

[@droidtheawesome]

The Whistler -> Longhorn -> Blackcomb names are so cool.

[@GaioSonase]

I like Neptune and Odissey more

[@virtualpaintstudio]

I just downloaded Windows "Shorthorn" builds 36xx, 37xx, and 40xx. I wonder what those are all about? A portable version OS? I'll have a busy day tomorrow.

[@kieronparr3403]

I thought they were just different builds

[@petkov2005]

They make XP look exactly like longhorn. I have only tried the x64 build though, and it is a pain to install. You need to replace a lot of files with those from XP. The end result looks exactly like longhorn. Even the (somewhat broken) setup is from longhorn.

[@1127snowbunny1127]

Just one more video before bed...

[@MrBelles104]

Just a 4th upload before the week ends...

[@Atomhaz]

This channel reminds me of the good old internet days

[@jonjohnson2844]

It was just a code name, an alpha version of Vista, it was never going to be released as ‘Longhorn’

[@shambien]

Yes but the click bait title clearly works.... Yes, longhorn was just the codename for vista. Yes, scope was very broad and some too ambitious features (i.e. wings) were cut. So what? They always work that way (I am an ex MS employee btw). Also it's normal to start working on the new release before the previous one is finalized, that's what branching is for.

[@ThatRandomToast]

There also exists a definition where pre-reset Longhorn is distinct from post-reset.

[@dDAMKErkk]

Ik leer van uw post; mensen kicken écht op 'naam' niet op 'gebeurtenis'.

[@FMRG7009]

I love this style of videos, honestly, my favorite KZbinr as a whole. And trust me, no one has held that spot in 5-6 years

[@CatLovesSoup]

Your videos keep getting better and better each time

[@BluePlanet321]

Urm, is this technically correct? Longhorn was the code name for the next OS after XP. Vista essentially IS Longhorn. Just vista was the official name. Certain parts from the leaked bulds were used in vista, and some were pulled is all.

[@MrJC1]

That's what i think.

[@arnetes]

Longhorn is Windows Vista.

[@BuckIsDumb]

Yo, 3 videos in almost 5 days is pretty cool

[@Swim_Jonse]

I know you had to evacuate and whatnot but even still, I can tell you're on weekly upload pace as of late. I'd love a video once every two months no less, but it's great to see you here so often! Keep it up, man.

[@TheAdventuresOfJimiJaden]

NationSquid is uploading like crazy! Longhorn has always been an interesting concept.

[@SamwiseOutdoors]

I remember the documentation for the AGP PNY Ge-Force card that I used in my first homebrew computer said that it was ready for Longhorn.

[@orbitaljunkie]

I was one of those kids that got excited about windows releases, since 3.1. I remember being genuinely excited about grabbing a cracked copy of a Longhorn leak with the slate theme in your vid, only to discover my hardware couldn't even turn on Aero Glass. It was a major bummer. The UI was definitely miles above XP though. We really loved our gradients before everything went flat in the 2010s.

[@NonsensicalTrickster]

How did you know I wanted to just watch something for a while before bed?

[@2002umutful]

Thank you, my friend, for providing me with all the "refresh" I needed during my break after studying :).

[@debandmike3380]

I think it's interesting how the interface went from flat to every possible style of 3-D and bubbly and pretty much back to flat again.

[@areamusicale]

13:07 LOL, I love how you hide "Beatles clues" in your videos

[@PicardRiker08]

You are PUMPING these out. And you always seem to be talking about the things that were exactly during my time... I remember hearing the rumors of this "Longhorn", it was pretty big in the news for a while. Vista was, interesting. It definitely "felt" futuristic from the glossy look. But the design choices and bad performance just really turned everyone off. I loved it at first just for the feel, but eventually came to hate it.

[@mhult5873]

Thank you for a great video! It really has the highest class. Subscribed, this was the first video I saw from your channel. Best regards

[@Tribdinosaur]

Quick honey new NationSquid video just dropped

[@SundryTornAsunder]

This just hit me with a whole bunch of nostalgia. I built my first computer when I was 14, and dual-booted Ubuntu (whichever version that would've been at that time) and Windows Vista. GRUB (the Grand Unified Bootloader) referred to the Windows Vista loader as Longhorn. Until today, I never knew why.

[@themasterzucc8955]

Thank you for your videos man they always make my day

[@adamnobody3054]

Really? ANOTHER NationSquid video? This is shaping up to be decent year!

[@forgetbeams]

so many videos !!!! thank you for your hard work, i love your stuff

[@sirawesomenessi1796]

Thank you for such a beautiful week, Mr. Squid.

[@VeryEmotionalPenguin]

Thanks for your all kinds and thanks for this video.

[@IamIanOficial]

times must've been tough if squid needed to release three videos in a single week 😞✊ more, please 🤤🤤🤤

[@ivotanev79]

Great videos bro! Keep going.

[@andrewschlueter242]

I remember grabbing Longhorn disk from the MSDN catalog from my dad's office and installing it at home. It was fun.... Then ME was the daily till 7.

[@brownboyfly]

Yassified Nacho Libre is spoiling us this week. Much love brudda, keep it up 🔥

[@PandaCoasters]

This dude goes from producing Columbine documentaries to obscure Microsoft lore. The absolute legend.

[@epik1]

Another video this week, W

[@atillacoskun7825]

the amount of beatles easter eggs in every video, even some that are barely known like the carnival of light one in another video is insane. as a beatles fan to another ur great

[@4leftclovers]

Thank you so much for making this!!!

[@Al-aabir]

i hope you enjoyed making this video as much as i enjoyed watching it

[@OliTsubasa]

Just cometong to engage cuz every video of NS is so educational and amazing and fun❤ luv ya😊 keep on with the good work🐱

[@InsanityPrevails]

I hate the Longhorn sounds.. My dad used them on the living room PC and always set the speakers to max since he knew it scared me, lol. I know most people like it though... I feel the exact same way with the PS1 startup sound :(

[@vedanshchn]

You’re a lucky kiddo

[@InsanityPrevails]

@@vedanshchn i'm 25 😅

[@vedanshchn]

@ Offsprings are forever kids for parents.

[@ChocoRainbowCorn]

They do? Longhorn sounds weren't really even that _bad_ per se, they were just somewhat alright and nothing more.

[@InsanityPrevails]

@@ChocoRainbowCorn yeah.... The weird angelic voices* freaked me out. Remember getting literal terror tears from them, lol

[@MrReese]

The history of Blackcomb aka Vienna next? :)

[@Konic_and_Snuckles]

I'm really digging the shorter but more frequent videos.

[@riber2233]

3 videos on a week, this must be my birthday con this shit is awesome

[@R.B.]

Not an Easter Egg. That was an internal visual refresh test theme I made as an intern. Visual Refresh was the name of the "reskin" feature in XP. "Candy" was designed to push the boundaries of what we could do with Visual Refresh, including transparencies. It turns out that trying to do that only using GDI, without graphics acceleration, it was a very expensive calculation and none of the shipping themes created by actual designers used that feature. For my effort, I figured that if I could make Windows look like Mac OS X DP4, then the xml style document could be used to accomplish anything. The version which seems like it was checked in was supposed to have really obnoxious colors because it was a test theme, and not something Microsoft remotely considered shipping. I didn't expect it to leave my team for that matter. For the full effect, you were also supposed to move the taskbar to the top of the screen. The stoplight system buttons moved to the left of the title bar, but the menu was docked in the window and not at the top like a Mac, and obviously there wasn't an app dock. Vertical scrollbar had a bug in the final code in the track, I think top was swapped with bottom, or something like that, but you never knew that with shipping themes, only some of my test themes. The only thing I couldn't really accomplish was that the OSX scrollbars had a pulsing gradient which stayed in the same position when the thumb was dragged and in our implementation the thumb would move the entire image, so I couldn't replicate that sort of graphical effect. Again, this wasn't a consideration to ship, it wasn't a Longhorn "feature," Visual Refresh shipped with XP and was rewritten for Aero, and it absolutely wasn't an Easter Egg.

[@beardsplaining]

I remember installing the Longhorn developer previews that came out back in the day. It always reminded me of a shinier version of XP

[@R.B.]

There was a touchscreen tablet on Windows 3.0. XP supported Tablet PCs with XPSP1. Those devices weren't capacitive touch, but adding something like capacitive touch only needed a driver from the IHV. Resistive touch screens were already a thing.

[@07sawyerr]

I was 13 or so when the Longhorn leaks started coming out and was following the project with the awe and fascination of a child, hacking my system to look like Longhorn, etc. When the Longhorn Letdown came in the form of Windows Vista it was what finally pushed be over to Linux and I never really used Windows again. Good video

[@TheBeigeBox]

I miss Aero. It looked good albeit an absolute nightmare for any system vista was on

[@CubePac9_Legacy]

8:36 Is that a flag?

[@xxyyxx2871]

13:20 Searching for Baberaham Lincoln I am DECEASED.

[@KyanoAng3l0_24]

Anyone else here who still likes the glossy, reflective aesthetic? Still looks modern to me, and still prefer it over Flat Design. Been a fan since Aqua. It's interesting that tech companies are now going for a mix of Frutiger Aero and Flat Design: more depth and details and glass-like effects while still minimalist, a nice balance imo. "Cybermorphism" as it's being called.

[@MrBelles104]

3 videos in a week? What a treat!

[@allengarcia00]

Bros pumping out QUALITY after QUALITY video. He’s got a crazy upload schedule this year 😂

[@Rileyquinn20]

I fear this is the video I'm gonna sleep like a baby too

[@yousefslimani99]

Ah yes Longhorn! I heard about it since 2019. It was a bit weird that nobody talks about this OS until I realized it was unreleased, well RIP

[@gilly5809]

The nation of squids

[@mrguy4621]

Your life is a nation squid

[@yourlatenighthost]

thank you for feeding us content for the third time this week p.s take care and don't overwhelm urself bro, we love you fr

[@Gazebos09]

three nation squid videos in a span of a week? peak.

[@MrVIPGuest]

2:12 Beatles Easter Egg spotted 😉

[@GeekFilter]

Our company worked on the Windows Vista launch website and it was a nightmare just trying to find a machine that would actually run it properly to take screenshots! I remember a lot of long nights and ordering food from Zankou Chicken!

[@borntoclimb7116]

Very interesting, nice Video

[@Nelkhael1]

Damn! Memory unlocked. I completely forgot about Longhorn. I especially remember how hard it was for me to find it anywhere.

[@TikTokFugitive]

I was at Microsoft during this time.. I remember Longhorn, Avalon and Vista well.. I was part of the Vista rollout.. what a nightmare it was....

[@ChocoRainbowCorn]

I'm surprised you are making a video about this at all. One could say I'm complaining, but really, I am not. I am just shocked, considering that plenty enough of content creators had already covered this topic. Once again though, I do love me a new video anyway :)

[@lazayvion]

A midnight drop? ❤

[@niZmosis]

I remember getting Longhorn from torrents burning it onto a CD and installing it. Widgets were the most standout thing that I recall.

[@Roman-nu1om]

damn I love those kind of videos. Good vibes

[@noisewaveofficial]

My nickname "Athema" was taken from the project HP & Microsoft had utilizing Longhorn as centre of buisness ecosystem. Project Athema was really something.

[@tiramisalem]

squidman has the most intriguing upload times

[@telepolo]

Microsoft didn’t just skipped Longhorn but they also skipped Windows 9

[@teamont5]

i always see this as longhorn becoming blackcomb

[@ImJCyo]

When I was still running Windows ME, there was a guy in software dev that we played Counter-Strike with. He got me access to an FTP with a Windows ISO labeled "Longhorn" that looked kinda like this. But it was so broken and unfinished that I ended up grabbing XP off of that same FTP.

[@yxles]

Didn't even watched the full video yet and I'm already shock that an Aqua theme made by Microsoft themselves actually exist wth

[@KyanoAng3l0_24]

Look up "Royale". It came from Windows XP's Media Center Edition and is basically a glossy/Aqua-like version of Luna. It was my favorite XP theme back in high school, probably a precursor to Aero.

[@LegoWormNoah101]

Longhorn's Slate theme has gotta be my favorite missed out theme

[@Ezel_142]

The development of Longhorn is pretty interesting, and a good example of how being overambitious can bite you back. I have a soft spot for Vista, but mainly because we got it with a new computer we bought, so at that time it was on the higher end of specs. It had some occasional bugs and it was a bit slow at times even on a "good" for its time PC, so I can understand the frustration when people jumped from XP to Vista and didn't expect the large jump in computer requirements.

[@MickeyMousePark]

WinFS was part of the Cairo project in 1996 (Win NT 4) ..it was suppose to go into Win2K..it was suppose to go into XP (2001..merge point) then suppose go into Longhorn then suppose to go into Vista (2007) then suppose to go into Win7 (2009) ... Like NTFS (and HPFS OS/2 version) the drive would need to be formatted for WinFS..i got to use it alot inside MS ..it created a very large file for the metadata of all the objects on the HDD..if that file became corrupt the machine could boot barely but was dog slow to open files ..and it could take an hour to rebuild the file.. if working properly search was almost instantaneous no matter how big your HDD was..

[@R.B.]

I was always bummed that WinFS was dropped. Everything was a database object and moving a file to WinFS it was broken down into smaller objects, and then moving it back to NTFS or FAT, it would rebuild it. Contacts weren't files or a list in a fine, they were data records written directly to the WinFS database and something you could associate with any other object. I still want that. I wrote a gadget which showed contact birthdays as a PoC.

[@MickeyMousePark]

@@R.B. exactly also instead of just searching for a file name you could do things like all objects that are associated with your Assistants Name and objects created on her computer..or all people and objects created at a specific Office Location all people and objects associated with a particular project..there were hundreds fields in the DB and you could add custom ones then save queries just like a normal DB..there are remnants of it still in Windows..if you go into File Explorer and right click on one of the column headers and select More..these are some of the fields that were going to be in the DB ..not in the file but held in the DB...there would have been an interface that allowed you to set those fields easily across many objects..

[@retrospacenet]

Ah, back when I downloaded new build ISOs via eMule over several nights, struggling with a 6GB/month DSL download limit. I have Longhorn 4074 Aero videos in my channel, I love it.

[@MrMeatHook]

Back in the day, when I used warez sites, I want to say it was 2001, I used an alpha build of Longhorn

[@retrospacenet]

no longhorn builds leaked before 2003.

[@MrMeatHook]

@ I could be mistaken about when exactly it was. It was likely 2003 or 04 then. It was definitely over 20 years ago. I don’t remember details on shit I pirated that long ago lol

[@dogtopiacanva]

nice vid im subed

[@ashishshevkar]

0:32 I had the same wallpaper on my laptop running on Win XP back in 2009

[@MilesTippett]

WOW..... Ognir Rats and Joe Ephgrave? Digging deep for these references this week!

[@Slickbabygoku]

who is ringo star is he a streamer does he play fortnite

[@jassenjj]

Having had a leaked Longhorn for a couple of weeks on my PC back then I was left with the impression that nothing about it was left behind or forgotten when Vista appeared. Vista was too much for the hardware of the time - it was not made for 2GB of RAM and mechanical HDDs. That was the only huge mistake with it. When 7 appeared, everyone familiar commented "Finally you remembered Longhorn".