- ComputerUser: Bracing For Windows 2000

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ComputerUser: Bracing For Windows 2000

Coming Software Update Will Reopen The FloodGates Of Hype

ComputerUser magazine Windows 2000 is not your father's Windows. It's not even your Gen-Xer's Windows. What is it, then, but an operating system for the new millennium?

Since May, the third beta version has been available to anyone who wanted to try an early hand at Windows 2000. When the official release version arrives (real soon now), Windows 2000 will be the operating system (OS) of choice for every PC user from newbies to Web-heads to the corporate masses, for several reasons:

Microsoft's advance training kit for Windows 2000

As with any Windows upgrade, it will be the latest and greatest (which, in this industry, means the best and, for many, the only viable alternative).
Less so now than before, it will be the dominant (if not the only) OS available on every new PC.
Features, features, features (especially Web integration)!
Greater ease of use and fewer bugs (at least in theory).
Look at it this way: Eventually, you will be running a Windows 2000 PC. The only question is, will you migrate before or after the millennium?

On one end of the spectrum, if you simply must stay current with all OS and software upgrades, you'll switch before Dec. 31, 1999. On the other end, if you're in a large corporation--where the costs and logistics of a Windows 2000 upgrade have been greatly improved, yet still demand a significant commitment of cash and person power--it could take until Jan. 1, 2001.

In any case, it's likely that many corporations are going to batten down the hatches and place a freeze on hardware and software projects and upgrades during the fourth quarter of this year.

Any way you look at it, the year of Windows 2000 seems to be-well, the year 2000. And that's exactly what Microsoft wants to hear.

Is it worth the cost? If you were to make a bet on it, here's what a handicapper would say:

If you run a sole proprietorship or small corporation or you are an individual user, there is virtually no cost to upgrade to Windows 2000 beyond the sticker price of the software.You may especially appreciate the Web integration and mobile computing enhancements that are built into Windows 2000.
If you work in a large corporation, your employer stands to draw the greatest benefit from the corporate-heeled features and streamlined installation process that Windows 2000 offers. However, the cost to upgrade en masse may make Windows 2000 daunting to even the most liberal bean counter.

Better Windows Needs A Better Computer

Only in the high-tech arena does a manufacturer soup up a vehicle by making it faster while simultaneously slowing it down by adding in all kinds of whizzy, if performance-draining, extras. Don't let your OS "engine" hit the ground with a thud because you lacked a street-rod PC that could handle the torque. If you are betting on Windows 2000, you will want at minimum a 300 MHz PC and, preferably, an Ethernet local-area network connection plus an ISDN-or-faster network connection to the Internet. Don't even think of "moving up" to Windows 2000, or Office 2000, until you have a PC with a clock speed faster than 300 "RPMs."

From www.microsoft.com

So what does Windows 2000 offer? To toss a bone to Redmond, I'm taking the feature lists for Windows 2000 straight off its Web site, http://www.microsoft.com in hopes that Microsoft will believe that I am being completely objective.

On the downside, Windows 2000 needs 64 MB of RAM. On the upside, this sports-utility vehicle of an operating system can work with as much as 4 GB of RAM! Unfortunately, Microsoft doesn't appear to state on its Web site how much hard drive space Windows 2000 will require.

Windows 2000 has a desktop and Start menu that is less cluttered and more easily customizable. It also sports an improved Help system, an easier-to-use search feature and built-in support for more than 60 language character sets so you can run programs in different languages all under one version of Windows.

Windows 2000 integrates Internet Explorer 5 into Office 2000 so that, for all practical purposes, all your office documents can be on the World Wide Web. Windows 2000 has NetMeeting, Active Directory and USB support.

Windows 2000 claims to be more reliable than Windows NT, because it can detect memory leaks that can crash a system over time. More than 75 scenarios that required a reboot in Windows NT Workstation 4.0 have been reduced to seven in Windows 2000.

Win2K Recognizes Same Employee At A Different Workstation

IntelliMirror is Microsoft's name for the technologies that enable Windows 2000 to allow software programs and program preferences, as well as documents and data, to "follow" employees throughout the corporation.

Theoretically, an employee can sit down at any company computer, anywhere in the world, and access his normal network privileges, directories and files. If one of his normal programs is not installed on the computer, it will install in the background. (This is great news for hard-drive manufacturers as well as software publishers like Microsoft.)

Through IntelliMirror, notebook computers will synchronize automatically while connected to the network. They will allow users to work on files, read Web sites or carry entire mapped drives offline when disconnected from the network. Network administrators can control which directories and documents are readable offline.

A raft of wizards help smoothly manage file synchronization, battery-powered operations, docking configurations, Internet-based printing, remote connections (from wireless links to virtual private networks) and even multiple connections.

Microsoft May Be Overpromising On Some Features

This is the third version of Windows that claims to have Plug and Play (a computer system that can automatically set the correct settings on devices when you hook them up to the system). We remain skeptical of Plug and Play for the PC, however, because of inconsistencies between vendors. Plug and play works some of the time, but often you will try to install incompatible devices that should work together but don't. Expect some manual configuration in any Intel-based PC.

This version of Windows continues to claim the ability to detect damaged or missing software and reinstall every program correctly. In Windows 2000, according to the Win2K Web site, "the Windows Installer service examines applications as a collection of components (files, registry keys, other resources), keypaths (the path of a given component) and as globally unique component codes. Windows Installer ensures that no resource is installed or removed unless the component that owns it is either installed or removed." Read: Windows 2000 will not delete components of software programs, only whole programs. This does not mean that if a user accidentally deletes an executable file (one that ends in .exe), Windows 2000 will find the missing file from some archive and replace it.

But There Are Some Plums

Automated deployment is one feature that will help swing corporations onto the Windows 2000 bandwagon. Windows 2000 lets network administrators use four methods to automate upgrades from four old versions of the operating system (Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows NT Workstation 3.51 or Windows NT Workstation 4.0). An explanatory document on the Microsoft Web site walks you through the process.

On the security front, Windows 2000 adds file-level encryption that is invisible to the user, public keys, digital signatures, and support for smart cards. Hopefully, all the fixes posted on the Microsoft site will make their way into the final version of Windows 2000. Let's hope no unchecked buffers go unnoticed before final launch. Finally, Windows 2000 is year 2000-compliant. (Windows 95 and Windows 98 require major patches to be Y2K-ready.)

The conclusion? Get Win2K as soon as you can. After all (and this is an official new slogan suggestion to Bill Gates): "If it's from Microsoft, it's inevitable."

More about Windows 2000:

Frequently asked questions about Windows 2000 from Windows Magazine and the Windows Users Group Network.
Microsoft's press release about Win2000's security and expandability.

(Steve Deyo is a former editor in chief of ComputerUser magazine.)

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