Here are some trenchant and insightful commentaries I have found on Longhorn in the past few hours:
– Miquel de Icaza is responsible for Mono and chunks of Gnome; he knows .NET GUI very well
– CRNs Steve Ranger sees MS need to meet Software Assurance as driver of Longhorn Cuts
– Business Weeks Jay Greene sees Longhorn cuts as major competitor opportunity
– Joe Beda ex- Avalon-er, now Google-d comments on the “new” Avalon
– The Registers Andrew Orlowski always raises some Inquirer-like points
– Bill Gates tells all he can about Longhorn cuts
– Mary Jo Foley at Microsoft Watch made sure this story did not slip between the cracks
– ScriptingNews Dave Winer, go 2/3 of the way down for a “hard core” punchline
– SimpleGeeks Chris Anderson gives another Avalon Designers take
– Scott Mace has a very skeptical take on Longhorns real purpose
– Joe Wilcox of Microsoft Monitor has an early reading of Longhorn cuts
– Chris Andersen, Avalon architect, takes alook at the changes
I will update this list as more good links become available.