Keep in mind that a widely read author such as peter lewis of the New York
times, whose article is below, receives a special tech support number from
Microsoft to answer all his questions from very knowledgable people. If
someone such as Peter lewis with his skills and the support he receives
has problems on four out of five computers, where might the average end
user be? Probably in difficult space. In the last paragraph, he
gives the advice to wait until Microsoft fixes the problems with ME before
contemplating an upgrade.
kelly
The New York times
July 6, 2000
STATE OF THE ART
Windows Me, Microsoft's Latest, Is a Less Than Millennial Upgrade
By PETER H. LEWIS
The first thing one needs to know about upgrading to the new
Windows Millennium Edition operating system -- besides the fact
that PC makers plan to offer it on new home computers this summer
and that Microsoft will make it available as an upgrade for older
computers in September -- is that the Uninstall routine is inside
the Commands folder, which is tucked inside the Windows folder.
Actually, the first thing one needs to know is that Windows Me is
an interesting but hardly crucial upgrade for Windows 98, with a
bunch of clever new features intended to make home computers easier
and more fun to use. And if Windows Me is factory-installed on a
new computer, it will almost certainly make the computer faster to
boot up, more reliable, easier to connect to other computers and to
the Internet and much more entertaining and versatile in the areas
of music and video.
Windows Me was sent to PC manufacturers two weeks ago, and new home
PC's will start showing up any day now with it already installed.
The do-it-yourself upgrade package will go on sale in computer
stores on Sept. 14 with a suggested price of $109 and a probable
street price of $90.
But based on my recent experience with five Windows computers, two
Windows Me upgrade discs supplied by Microsoft and a hot line
connection to a friendly Microsoft technical support specialist
named Don, I think I'll skip this upgrade and wait to take
advantage of the new operating system the next time I buy a new PC.
The arrival of Windows Me is a great reminder that an operating
system upgrade is not to be undertaken casually, especially if
there are other ways to improve a computer's performance without
tampering with its most fundamental code. An operating system has
powerful juju, and running afoul of it calls down the wrath of the
computer spirits.
Microsoft describes Windows Me as "an initial step towards
delivering on Microsoft's vision for home users." Unlike the new
Windows 2000 operating system, which was built atop a foundation of
industrial-strength code written for business and corporate
computers, Windows Millennium Edition is a direct descendant of
Windows 95 and 98. It is a remodeling project, in other words.
Microsoft is already hard at work creating the next step in its
consumer operating system strategy (Windows Me Two?) but for now
Windows Me is Microsoft's best operating system for home PC's.
And that is a scary thought.
Of the five computers I tried to upgrade, only one accepted the new
software without a fight. On that machine, Windows Me performed
flawlessly and revealed its many good features, which fall into
four main categories.
The first is digital media and entertainment. It has a snazzy new
Windows Media Player and a digital movie-making feature that is
similar to the one Apple has had on its iMacs for the past year.
Windows Me makes it easier to work with digital picture and music
files. It also comes with more games, including online games that
let players insult one another verbally with a feature called
DirectPlay Voice.
I especially like the built-in support for copying audio CD's to
the hard drive, and for transferring those digital music files to a
portable MP3 player like the Diamond Rio.
_________________________________________________________________
A product that can improve your computer, if you can load it.
_________________________________________________________________
The second category is home networking. The number of homes with
two or more computers is growing rapidly, but getting the computers
to share files, printers and Internet connections has not been
easy. Windows Me has new software wizards that help the user set up
home networks. It adds support for high-speed IEEE 1394 (Firewire)
peripheral connections, and it improves the support for instant
messaging and streaming audio and video.
Microsoft calls the third category the "online experience," which
includes everything from a new version of Internet Explorer (IE
5.5) to new network plumbing borrowed from Windows 2000. Windows Me
does a better job of handling cable and D.S.L. Internet
connections, and it has better support for online chat sessions and
conferencing.
The fourth and most important category is called PC Health -- an
odd name, as it turned out, given the woes I had trying to install
Me.
Windows Me has been fortified with features intended to make the
operating system more stable and reliable and able to fix its own
technical problems. It is also designed to shield the consumer from
accidentally overwriting esoteric system files, to simplify
Microsoft's notoriously cryptic error messages and to restore the
computer to a state of health if something does go wrong.
One new feature is System File Protection, which keeps newly
installed applications from either accidentally or deliberately
messing around with system files, including the treacherous little
rascals known as DLL's, or dynamic link libraries. Conversely,
another new feature, System Restore, allows the user to beat a
retreat in case something does go awry during the installation of
new software or hardware. As the name suggests, System Restore lets
the user roll back the clock to a point before the problems
started.
The Help system has been completely redesigned and expanded to
include both online and disk-based support and troubleshooting.
And, oh, did I need help.
The first disastrous attempt to load Windows Me on my I.B.M.
Thinkpad 240 reinforced Computing Rule No. 1: Never attempt an
operating system upgrade without first making a backup of important
files.
It also underscored the importance of clicking "yes" when the
installation routine asks if the user wants to squirrel away a copy
of the computer's existing Windows configuration, just in case, and
"yes" again to make an emergency boot diskette, just in case the
new operating system causes the computer to have a grand mal
seizure.
Even after what the computer wizards call a clean install, which
involves bypassing the earlier version of Windows on the machine,
and after laboriously shutting down every program or software
routine that might conflict with the installation of a new
operating system, Windows Me still fought with some unknown
software antagonist on my laptop.
Despite claims that Windows Me has simplified the error messages,
it still spit out such gems as "Rundll32 has caused an error in The
only way to regain use of the computer was to uninstall Me.
New error messages popped up when I tried to install Windows Me on
a Dell desktop computer. After two more installation attempts, and
two more uninstalls, the new software took residence but reported
"script errors" that blanked every file menu and directory screen.
Attempts to get Windows Me installed on a third computer, also a
Dell, succeeded only after I erased most of my favorite
applications from the hard disk. From then on, Windows Me worked
like a champ.
A fourth computer choked when Windows Me tried to commandeer nearly
500 megabytes of disk space. Microsoft says the minimum requirement
is 320 megabytes of free space, but a clean install can chew up
half a gigabyte.
The fifth computer, a nearly virginal laptop computer, absorbed
Windows Me without a hitch on the first try. This suggests strongly
that the problems on other machines arose from conflicts between Me
and one or more other programs, even though the applications were
closed.
On the machines where it took root, Windows Me was a welcome
improvement over Windows 98 Second Edition. But unless you have an
urgent need for the new features, it is probably a good idea to
wait until you need to replace your computer, or at least until
Microsoft finds and fixes potential software conflicts.
Peter H. Lewis at [log in to unmask] welcomes your comments and
suggestions.
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