Build 4074 was the most interesting publicly released build of Longhorn.
The %WINDOWS%\\Microsoft.Net\\Windows\\v6.0.4030\\ folder contains some gems and interesting data, and one of them is the Longhorn Speech API application, which is in “MS.Internal.Hoolie.dll“.

The “Hoolie” itself is the codename for the Microsoft Managed Speech Desktop Speech Services. The application is used for speech recognition and has ‘alternate spellings’ and correction support for recognized words. The user interface consists of a base window showing the state of the application - on - listening, off, and “sleeping”. The two additional windows open with sliding effect, and are used to correct/replace a not-that-well-recognized word with another one, or choose an alternative.

In fact, there is an install file, %WINDOWS\\inf\\hoolie.inf, those of you who are interested, may check it out.

You can get a glimpse at what Hoolie is, by downloading AeroXperience’s “Hoolie Demo” application, which is partial remake of the original file, from http://www.aeroxp.org/release/HoolieDemo-AXP.zip. The Zip package consists of the demo app + the original “MS.Internal.Hoolie.dll”. Everything needed to run it is Microsoft .NET Framework v1.1, or higher (no Longhorn build is needed to run it).

Special thanks go to Victor Mach, founder of AeroXperience, for giving the idea to explore Hoolie, and to Microsoft for building the next generation software, and taking users’ experience to the next level.

Download: http://www.aeroxp.org/release/HoolieDemo-AXP.zip
Screenshots: The General Hoolie UI The Hoolie ‘Helper’ Windows