Well, it is that time of the year again for every person on earth to send more money to Bill Gates. You guessed it, it is time to upgrade our software. This year ol' Bill needed some walking around money, so he decided to sell us an upgrade to the Windows operating system. The question is, can Billy convince us that we need to upgrade to Windows 98?
A couple of weeks ago, the Feds tried to block the release of Windows 98 claiming that Bill had a monopoly on operating systems and that he was hurting the likes of Netscape because he was giving away Internet Explorer. Bill responded that if Windows 98 was delayed by the government then the entire US economy would be harmed. All I can say is that this new software must be some mighty powerful stuff.
I obtained a beta copy of Windows 98 because I figured that if delaying Windows 98 would damage the economy, then the beta version would help keep the stock market going up. Boy, was I right! I installed the beta and the market has been going up ever since!
For those of you who don't know what a beta is, I'll tell you. It used to mean computer software that was still under development. It was not released to the public until the development was complete. Then Microsoft realized that there were knuckle heads like me that would pay for pre-released software just to be the first on the block to have it. Since then beta means that Bill gets even more money by selling software under development and selling it again when it is finished.
With trepidation, I started to install the beta version of Windows 98. I fully expected to see my computer up and die at this unfinished software. Lo and behold, the install went perfectly. Windows 98 started up and worked like a charm. However, I was disappointed. It looked just like the old Windows. Just about everything was the same as in the previous version of Windows. After all of the hype, I was expecting to have my socks knocked off. I felt that I had been cheated.
After a couple of days moping around the office I noticed something different about the new operating system but I could not put my finger on it. Another day or so went by and it dawned on me ... my computer had not crashed in days. I have been running Windows 98 on my laptop for over a month now and I cannot remember a single crash. I have had a few "failure to resume" problems after closing the screen of my laptop and I have had the screen show some funky colors after a resume, but other than that it was "steady as she goes." Maybe I was not cheated after all.
If Bill can make his software run without crashing very often, then maybe this is one upgrade that is worthwhile. But you ask, "Jay, what else does Windows 98 do that would make me want to send Bill even more money that he so desperately needs?" I am glad you asked.
Windows 98 seems to start up faster, run faster, and shut down faster. I don't know if it really is faster or my perception of time is slowing. Either way, I am happy with the result.
The new operating system provides support for USB. No, this is not help for the United States Banana Company, but for a system for attaching printers, scanners, modems, etc. All of your peripherals (printers, scanners, modems, etc.) will attach to one port on your computer. For example, now you probably have a parallel port to attach a printer and a serial port with a modem attached. What if you want to attach a second printer? You could pay a technician to install a second parallel port. With USB you would plug the new printer into the back of the first printer just like you would Christmas tree lights. This is called daisy chaining. At this moment, there are very few USB devices but by the end of the year there should be many more.
I have hit on only a few of the new features of Windows 98. In my next column, I will cover more features. Hopefully, by then, Windows 98 will be officially released.
Our famous Dictaphone brochure was released. I am amazed at how a good photographer can manipulate a photograph so that it and reality are not on speaking terms. For example, Miguel's photograph shows him hard at work on a clean desk.
If you will remember, we started testing our scanning archive system. We are now scanning our closed files and storing the scanned documents on CD-Roms. So far, the program has been a success. Did I determine that it was a success by measuring the number of files scanned per day? No. I determined that it is a success by the number of complaints I am now getting from our secretaries who want their files scanned first. It is much easier to pull up a file on the computer than it is to go to the archives and find the file.
TTFN