For Thursday, November 19, 1998 Drummer Column, Gibbs, 737 words
98 is 86 upside down
A while back I wrote a rip-snorting invective against Windows98. I slammed it for causing me a long string of headaches during the installation period. And all that stuff I said was true.
However, let me share my original intention. That article was to begin with all the negative aspects of Bill's new operating system, then end with a fair stack of positive features.
What happened unexpectedly was that I reached my 700-word limit without ever getting to the good stuff. I decided to just leave the story stand as it was because I did and still do think Microsoft should have released Windows98 as a low-priced upgrade to Windows95, instead of as a new, high-priced Operating System.
Nevertheless, Win98 has its good points. I'm making today's addendum for three reasons: 1) a reader emailed me back in August to ask why I didn't say anything good about Win98; 2) a recent conversation I had with my good buddy Ron West revealed a big surprise: even though we had both bought Windows98 on the same day at Costco back in August, he still hadn't installed his copy. I asked why and he said because my column scared the apples out of him.
That got me to thinking that maybe I'd made a few other readers skittish about upgrading to Windows98. That’s the third reason for today's topic. So, let me just say this up front about Windows98 -- don't buy it.
Don't buy it unless you want or need to have it. Microsoft will be coming out soon enough with another new OS for the home -- some friendly less-laden version of the stable NT Workstation. If everything is working fine now, and you're not big into exploring what's new with computers, don't rock the boat.
If you want to see what Windows98 looks like, you can do that for free by downloading Internet Explorer 4 with Active Desktop. You'll get a nicely enhanced single-click toolbar and the ability to use web pages as your background.
If you act now, you can download a free copy of Internet Explorer Version 5 beta from Microsoft's web site. It has a new feature called IntelliSense that is supposed to learn your surfing habits and adapt itself accordingly.
For $19.95 you can go whole hog and order a CD beta copy of Office2000, NT Workstation 4.0, FrontPage2000 and PhotoDraw2000. I only hope you have a garage computer to test it on.
Back to Windows98. Critics say it fixes 3000 bugs found in Windows95. If one of them is bugging you, upgrade.
If you are running out of hard-drive space because you store a lot of small picture and sound files, and you don't have the latest service release of Windows95 with FAT32, upgrade.
FAT32 is an advanced hard-drive indexing system that allows you to use less space to store files. You can tell if you have FAT32 by right-clicking on your C Drive in My Computer and checking Properties. If it just says FAT, and not FAT32, upgrade.
If you never want to be bothered again with searching for, downloading, and installing patches and bug fixes, upgrade. Windows98 has an Update Button. One click takes you to a Microsoft WebBot who scans your system to see exactly what you need, then downloads it to you and installs it automatically. You just check in every month or so.
If you want your computer to perform automatic maintenance on itself in the middle of the night while you're asleep, upgrade. Once you set it up, each night Windows98 wakes up your computer, scans the hard disk for errors, defragments your files, removes clutter, and then goes back to sleep.
If your motherboard came with USB ports (Universal Serial Bus) (they look like PEZ dispensers) and you are in the market for a new scanner or external modem, upgrade. Lots of new plug-ins are USB and the list is growing fast.
Yes, I did have problems during the installation of Windows98. A few programs acted up. I reinstalled them and that took care of much of it. I'm happy now.
The new generation operating system is just across the river on the bank of the year 2000. You may stand on this side and wait for the next ferry, or hop in and swim across with the rest of us. It takes a bit of paddling, but the water is fine.