Switching from Windows 95 to Windows 98
Opinion
The
big question of the moment about Windows 98 is “Should I switch to Windows 98?”
The
answer is “maybe”. The easiest answer is: if you buy a new Wintel computer, get
it with Windows 98, but if your existing system is stable and working, don’t
mess with it.
Windows
98 offers a large number of minor improvements over Windows 95, including the
addition of several more features that were available on the Macintosh in the
mid and late 1980s. Windows 98 major feature is that it blurs the distinction
between the operating system and the web browser, furthering Microsoft’s own
monopolistic goals of eliminiating Netscape, but by moving some important
operating system functionality to the web browser, Windows 98 actually runs
approximately 5-20% slower than Windows 95 on the same hardware. Windows
98 also includes numerous attempts at fixes of some of the worst problems in
Windows 95, but more than 5,000 known bugs from Windows 95 still exist in
Windows 98, because Microsoft views bug fixes as unprofitable.
As
one example, Windows 98 now supports multiple monitors. Multiple monitors is a
gimmick for typical home and business use, but is an essential requirement for
professional content creation. For page layout, pre-press, illustration,
animation, and other graphics work it is common to have all the software tools
on one screen and the artwork in progress on a screen by itself. For video and
music it is common to have one complete monitor for each source and destination
in use (which in a complex project could easily include several sources). The
addition of this feature is an example of Microsoft closing the gap between
Windows and Macintosh. The Macintosh had the ability to support multiple
monitors back in 1987. And this feature highlights the Microsoft approach to
closing the gap, because the version available in 1987 on the Macintosh is
still superior to that newly available with Windows 98. On the Macintosh, there
is no limit (other than user hardware purchases) on the number of monitors,
each monitor can be of a different size (14", 17", 21",
25", etc.), can be of a different resolution (72 ppi, 75 ppi, 150 ppi,
etc.), and can be of a different color depth (16, 256, thousands, millions of
colors). Additionally, the resolution and color depth of any one (or all) of
the monitors can be changed on the fly without rebooting. And the Macintosh
supports on the fly changing of the ordering of the monitors, changing the
monitor that has the menu bar, and changing which monitor windows open into.
The
downside is that the release of Windows 98 set new records for the most
technical support calls in a single day. Windows 98 was released with more than
10,000 known bugs and is so bug-filled that it crashed during Microsoft’s
official televised introduction. Many individuals and businesses have found it
so trouble-filled that they have given up on attempts to install it and
returned to Windows 95. These widespread reliability problems have spawned
humor, such as the error list shown on the Windows 98 page.
Bill
Gates, when questioned about the more than 10,000 bugs Microsoft acknowledged
existed in Windows 98, claimed “There are no significant bugs in our released
software that any significant number of users want fixed.…The reason we come up
with new versions is not to fix bugs.…It’s the stupidest reason to buy a new
version I ever heard.”
Microsoft
took the approach that it was only profitable for them to fix bugs that
affected a large number of users.
The
result is that if your computer is a mainstream model with only simple and
mainstream hardware and you only use a few select mainstream programs, Windows
98 will work with no trouble at all. Windows 98 should also work fine (at least
initially) when pre-installed on a new computer.
The
more your own work or your choice of hardware or software deviates from the
mainstream, the more likely that Windows 98 will present all kinds of problems
and that you will probably need to pay for hours or days of expensive
professional tech support to get it running.
If
your business is still using Windows 3.1 or MS-DOS, then the reasons that
caused you to avoid Windows 95 apply even more strongly for avoiding Windows
98.
There
are many high quality operating systems available for existing Intel-based
hardware, including excellent commercial operating systems such as OS/2, NeXTSTEP,
or Solaris, as well as excellent free operating systems such as LINUX, FreeBSD,
NetBSD, and OpenBSD. For those still using MS-DOS, IBM has released an updated
and improved version called PC-DOS-2000.
For
those considering the purchase of new computers, the Macintosh line includes
both high end graphics machines and a new consumer model, the iMac, which is
actually up to two times faster than any Pentium II computer.