Upcoming Events

Cloud Connect
Santa Clara
Feb 13-16, 2012

Cloud Connect brings together the entire cloud eco-system to better understand the transformation we're experiencing and promises to be the defining event of the cloud computing industry. Learn about the latest cloud technologies and platforms from thought leaders in Cloud Connect’s comprehensive conference.

Register Now!

Windows98: Still So me Smudges

Networking News Windows98 incorporates several much-needed improvements in networking and brings the feature set up to par with Windows NT Workstation 4.0. Microsoft includes support for NDS. I found the Microsoft NDS client lacking. I couldn't log onto a second NDS tree within Explorer and couldn't see a list of NDS trees on the network. Microsoft definitely has to improve its NDS client. Microsoft's NDS client is not the only game in town. I decided to install Novell's 32-bit NDS Client, even though it's not officially certified as being Windows98-compatible, and to my surprise it ran without a hitch. I connected to multiple NDS trees and copied files between two volumes and between a NetWare 4.11 server and an NT 4.0 server hassle-free. I also ran Novell's NWAdmin utility and added various NDS objects.

Although Microsoft does provide TCP/IP support, it otherwise ignores the Unix world. Microsoft has no plans to include even a basic Network File System (NFS) client in Windows98. Windows98 users will need to either purchase an NFS client application, or put the Server Message Block (SMB) protocol on a Unix box by installing an application like SAMBA.

Microsoft has added several necessary remote-access features, including Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP) and Multilink Point-to-Point Protocol (MPPP).

Hardware and Other Improvements To the delight of device driver developers and those who support Windows98 and NT, Windows98 introduces the Win32 Driver Model (WDM), which unifies device drivers for Windows98 and NT 5.0. WDM will provide a unified set of hardware device drivers for Universal Serial Bus (USB), IEEE 1394, input and scanning devices. Unfortunately, WDM does not address display or printers drivers, which is a hole in the WDM strategy.

As with Macintosh, Windows98 lets you install up to eight video adapters, so you can expand the Windows98 desktop to multiple monitors. This is a helpful feature for power users, since it lets you display mor e desktop real estate simultaneously. It requires PCI-based video adapters, even if the video adapter is integrated onto the motherboard.

Windows98 offers support for the USB, which enables easy attachment of peripherals such as mouses, pointing devices and keyboards. This will come in handy when more USB products come to market. Support for the IEEE 1394 serial bus interface also is available. For those with newer laptops, Windows98 provides built-in support for PC Card32 (Cardbus), which is a 32-bit PCI implementation. PC Card32 offers higher performance than PCMCIA.

Microsoft also has introduced the Windows Scripting Host (WSH), which lets VBScript or JavaScript scripts access system resources. It offers a considerable amount of flexibility, so you can provide custom scripts that automate tasks. WSH will also be included in NT 5.0.

Jay Milne can be reached at jmilne@nwc.com.