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  Windows98: Still So me Smudges By Jay Milne According to Microsoft Corp., more than 77 million licenses of its Windows95 are installed. The company humbly notes that this figure exceeds the total number of Japanese cars sold in the United States in the past 25 years. What Microsoft conveniently doesn't mention is that we've seen the former crash more often than the latter. The latest member to crash the Microsoft Windows operating system party, Windows98 (Memphis), is now in beta 2, and I put it through the paces in Network Computing's San Mateo lab and our Northern California lab partner's corporate network. Microsoft estimates that it will release Windows98 in the second quarter of 1998, and will provide the ability to upgrade from both Windows 3.1 and Windows95. I liked what I saw with Win98, but there is room for improvement in security and network client support. Although many of its features, su ch as the Remote Access Server (RAS), are available in the Windows95 Plus Pack and the OEM release of Windows95, several are new to the platform and add much-needed management facilities, enhance Windows' networking capabilities, strengthen remote-access functionality and raise the bar for third-party hardware support. But Windows98 is not a major breakthrough for desktop operating systems. Many of the new features found in Windows98 should have been in Windows95. In some respects, Windows NT is the superior desktop operating system. It offers true multitasking, is more stable and provides superior desktop security. There is a place for Windows98. Its Plug-and-Play capability makes it the better choice for laptops. If you're deciding on whether to go Win98 or NT 4.0 Workstation from your existing Windows 3.1 environment, I strongly recommend NT 4.0 Workstation, especially if you're deploying NT Server. The system requirements are so different coming from Windows 3 .1 that you should consider both, and j ust as we would recommend NT over Windows95, the features of Windows98 aren't so drastically different to change our opinion. If you already have Windows95 and it's working well, Windows98 doesn't buy you enough to incur the installation, troubleshooting and training costs. Up and Running? For the most part, Windows98 ran rather smoothly on our Compaq Deskpro 6000, Dell and Micron workstations. (We did have our share of beta bugs.) To reduce time and management costs, Microsoft has introduced the Windows Update Web Site. This ActiveX control compares the driver information on the local machine with a reference database on the Microsoft Web site. If any drivers are outdated, you can install new ones. Microsoft plans to make the back-end system available to customers, so you can access the Intranet Update Web Site. (No date was available at press time.) After registering my system with Microsoft, I attempted to update it. But during the process, Internet Explorer 4.0 gave us a message indic ating that a current script was running slow and was causing the machine to run considerably slower. I chose to abort the update process and wait for beta 3. The Windows Update feature is a double-edged sword: While it provides an easy mechanism to update system files, it opens up the door for users to update their systems without going through "proper" channels. When a system goes to the Microsoft Update Web Site, two components are downloaded to the machine. The first is an ActiveX control that scans the machine for device driver information. The second component is an index of the most current versions of device drivers. Then ActiveX control compares what it knows against the index list. Any device drivers that are out of date are then requested from the Update Web Site. Microsoft says this process gathers no information about the system. Windows98's System File Check Utility is a noteworthy management enhancement that should have been in Windows95 from the start. Th is utility verifies the integrit y of the Windows98 systems files. If a file is corrupt, the utility replaces the file automatically. I tested it by deleting several Dynamic Link Libraries (DLLs) in the System32 directory. Sure enough, it detected that the two files were deleted, and I restored them from the install CD. If you're concerned about using policies to control Windows95 desktops, don't fret; nothing has changed with Windows98. But according to Microsoft, Windows NT Server 5.0 with Active Directories will store the policy information, as well as machine information and client state information in the directory instead of the file system. NT Server 5.0 will ship with a Windows98 client pack that will enable this functionality.
By David Daly E-Works Equals Effortless Workflow By Nancy Cox Updated October 8, 1997  |
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