FRAMINGHAM (02/28/2000) - I've been working with Windows 2000 for a year now in various beta releases, and most recently with the final, go-to-market code, all direct from Microsoft Corp. and factory-installed on new systems. I've written about my conclusions and reservations, primarily concerning the server and advanced server versions and what they mean for enterprises and their networks.
One area I haven't discussed until now is my experience with the desktop client, Windows 2000 Professional.
What's Good
Here's what I like: When it works, Windows 2000 Professional is the best desktop operating system I've ever tried. On the whole, Microsoft has nicely refined the Windows 9x graphical user interface, making the start menu more useful. This edition boots up considerably faster than Windows NT.
Besides having its own NT file system (NTFS 5), which is invisible to Windows 9x, Win 2k can read FAT32 disk partitions. This means that on my home dual-boot system, I'm no longer forced to use the space-wasting FAT16 file system just to maintain compatibility between the two operating systems.
And on my home system's 18-in. monitor, the screen image seems sharper while Win 2k is running than the same image does under Windows 98. (I don't have any tools with which I might measure any difference, but I have previously observed that subjective improvement with Windows NT. Is this video voodoo? I don't know.) Win 2k is considerably more stable, requiring far fewer reboots than Windows 98. Finally, plug-and-play works well in Win 2k.
What's Bad
That said, it's worth noting that Windows 2000 Professional works well only on a limited set of hardware. Too much of the time, it comes off as plug-and-don't-play. And therein lies a tale: One of the all-important references that comes on the Windows 2000 CD is a file called the hardware compatibility list. It's also available online at www.microsoft.com/windows2000/. If a system or component isn't on this very long list, Windows 2000 Professional won't work with it - and Microsoft isn't kidding. Don't think that a product must be compatible just because it's brand-new. 'Tain't so.
My dual-boot system (Windows 98/2000) has several new peripherals attached to it for evaluation and everyday use: an Acer America Corp. 620 Universal Serial Bus flat-bed scanner, an Acer ScanWit 2720 SCSI film scanner and an Iomega Corp. ZipCD IDE rewritable CD drive. None of these is especially unique, and none could be called "legacy" equipment; all were introduced late last year.
Yet not one of them is on the official list, and, not surprisingly, not one will work under Windows 2000 Professional. This is why I maintain a dual-boot system.
And What's Really Ugly
A year ago, when Win 2k Beta 3 was first released to reviewers, I was hounded by many of these same hardware problems. At one point, I installed Win 2k Pro three times, only to discover at the conclusion of each installation process that the operating system couldn't load because of a hardware incompatibility.
Of course, it didn't tell me what the offending hardware was. That would've been too simple.
That experience was far more frustrating than it might sound at first, because you can't uninstall Windows 2000 Professional the way you can Windows 98. If an installation doesn't work, your only recourse is to wipe out everything by going back to the fdisk command, repartitioning and reformatting the disk drive and then reinstalling the operating system and all your applications.
In its own way, this reminds me of the on-screen warning that appears with many stunts portrayed on television: "Do not attempt this at home; these are trained professionals.'' That's how I've felt, several times, about Win 2k - even though I'm one of those trained professionals!
So that's why, as I write this column on my 5-month-old, Computerworld-issued notebook, I'm using Windows 98 instead of Windows 2000. I'm pretty sure Win 2k would install without major problems - but I'm not quite ready to fully believe it or to risk the expenditure of time that would be required to recover from an unsuccessful installation on this, my everyday production machine.
To be fair to Microsoft, you can download the Windows 2000 Readiness Analyzer, a 2.5MB program that purports to tell you whether your system is acceptable to Windows 2000 (www.microsoft.com/windows2000/upgrade/compat/ready.asp).
I ran this program (which took 17 minutes on my 400-MHz machine), and it told me that I have a number of applications that won't run under Win 2k Pro (including my antivirus software) and that some need additional files to update them so they'll run. The analyzer reported, most unhelpfully, that my NEC Corp.
1260 laser printer may not run without new drivers. That's curious, because the same printer runs just fine on Windows 2000 Professional on my home machine, and it was installed directly from Win 2k's built-in drivers. Also, the report discussed potential problems with a number of pieces of software it said were registered as hardware (whatever that means).
Did this report help me decide whether it's safe to upgrade? No; it just added to the uncertainty.
Preinstalled Is Best
The bottom line is that even though I think Windows 2000 Professional will prove to be the best overall desktop operating system Microsoft has ever produced, I'm not yet ready to install it on my office laptop. I want Win 2k, but I need to know it will work. And I'm not willing to risk what could end up being a two- or three-day outage recovering from a failed installation and a reinstallation of all my applications. The more I think about it, the less I want to be a systems integrator.
So my advice is this: If you really want Windows 2000 Professional on your desktop, order a computer that comes with the operating system and all the necessary peripherals installed. That way someone else can work out the compatibility problems before you ever see them.