The
Battle of Windows 98
Thao Mong
Le
Windows 98
can be defined as an integration software package of Internet Explorer
4.0 into Windows 95. In this column, I would like to share with you some
thoughts of Windows 98 that I learnt it from the Windows 98, lastest Beta
version. I also share with you some thoughts about the battle between Microsoft
and Department of Justice.
It is obvious
that Windows 98 is Microsoft's masterstroke in its attempt to gut Netscape's
browser market share. You still be able to run Navigator under Windows
98, but it may cause some errors because of difference of Java languages
used to develop Windows 98 and Navigator (Microsoft used its own modified
Java language to develop Windows 98, while Netscape used the original SUN
Java language to develop its browser product). For the time being, no error
evidence is provided yet since the final Windows 98 version will not be
able to users until 6/25/98.
In terms of
Microsoft's overall strategy, the integration of Internet Explorer 4.0
into Windows 98 is the most important part. This integration provides some
significant features for Windows 98 over Windows 95. Some of these are
as folows:
. Windows
98 lets you jump onto the Web without bringing up a browser. In general,
it lets you enter the Internet more easily, provides for more efficient
data storage and starts up frequently used programs more quickly. Internet
access via ISDN and 56K modems is potentially much faster in Win98.
. Windows
98 comes with Outlook Express, a part of Internet Explorer 4.0 --which
supports POP3, SMTP and IMAP4--is the replacement for IE3's Internet Mail
and News.
. With the
support of Internet Explorer 4.0, Windows 98 provides the Personal Web
Server (PWS) application, which is good for a small Intranet with no need
a dedicated server. That means you can use it as a staging server to test
your designed Web before promoting them to your live server.
. Windows
98's FrontPage Express feature, a "baby" version of Microsoft's
FrontPage 97, is good for WYSIWYG or source editing HTML documents.
But to many
users who don't care about the Web or want to stick with the other Web
browsers, Windows 98 is significant for other reasons.
. Not like
WIndows 95 and Windows NT, which were designed for PC home users and business
users respectively, Windows 98 was marketed as an operating system for
both home users and business users.
. Windows
98 solves more than 3,000 problems in Windows 95! It now allows you to
take less time to start up and shut down our PC.
. Windows
98 allows us to use two monitors or more at once. It enables you to plug
up to eight monitors into your PC and use them all as a single desktop.
For each monitor, we need one standard video card and the available PC
slot.
. Windows
98 makes your PC run faster than their Windows 95 counterparts. Windows
98 lets you automate ScanDisk, get rid of extraneous files or defragment
hard drives.
. Win98 includes
a new feature, which significantly improves access speed to diskette drives.
. Windows
98 applied some common sense to the SYSTEM.INI and WIN.INI files. They're
outlined Registry-style, so that instead of paging through a gazillion
lines of code to find the one you want, you just have to click the plus
sign to expand a particular heading. You can disable items individually
with the Startup tab.
. The Accessibility
features in Windows 98 are a bit more, well, accessible than their Windows
95 counterparts. Accessibility in Win98 provides the steps you through
the process of turning on the Accessibility features you want.
. Windows
98 sports a new, improved Kodak/Wang Imaging utility. The utility is a
TWAIN32-compliant applet designed to handle graphics imported by digital
cameras and scanners. It said that it supports TIFF, Fax (AWD), Windows
Bitmap, JPG, PCX, XIF, GIF and WIFF file formats.
. Windows
98 provide the Task Scheduler feature that is a handy utility called the
Microsoft System Agent. Using System Agent you can set your PC to automatically
launch certain programs at specific times and days. It was good for routine
disk-maintenance tasks like running ScanDisk or defragging.
. Windows
98 provides NetMeeting, an all-in-one intranet and Internet communications
applet. It supports application and Clipboard sharing among two or more
people, whiteboard, chat, file transfer, videoconferencing, Internet phone
calls, etc.
The Justice
Department is charging Microsoft with violating a court-ordered consent
decree the company signed in 1995. That agreement prevents the company
from tying the shipment of its software applications to the licensing of
Windows, but does not prohibit the company from integrating new technology
into Windows. Still, the DOJ says that Internet Explorer and Windows 95
are clearly separate products, and that Microsoft is shutting out other
browsers by forcing PC makers to ship Internet Explorer with Windows machines.
The US Justice
Department believes that Microsoft is abusing its near-monopoly in PC operating
systems to grind up competition in other markets. In the long run, consumers
will be harmed, because there will be less competition and fewer choices.
The Justice Department wants Microsoft to remove Explorer from Windows
98 and offer it separately. If that's not possible Microsoft should be
required to include a copy of Netscape in Windows and give it equal billing
with Explorer.
The Justice
Department also complains about deals that Microsoft advertised a number
of vendors by adding a list of a number of Web sites or Internet service
providers tinWindows 98. In return, these vendors will put the Microsoft
icons being before the eyes of millions of Windows users. The Justice Department
said that this was another monopolistic abuse. Microsoft says it's stopped
the promotion requirements, but it doesn't concede there was anything wrong
with them. Microsoft will not remove the list.
It is interesting
if we can continue to discuss this "war" on our forum to allow
us to learn more about Windows 98. Note that, you probably don't need to
upgrade Windows 98 if you're already using Windows 95.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/frompost/june98/cyber1.htm
Thao Mong Le
[email protected]
For
discussion on this column, join [email protected]
Copyright
© 1994 - 1998 by VACETS and Thao M. Le
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