Microsoft Set To DeliverOn Enterprise Strategy

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September 22, 1997

Microsoft Set To Deliver On Enterprise Strategy

Vendor ready with NT 5.0 beta code; Win98 pushed back.
By Stuart J. Johnston with John Foley , Martin J. Garvey , and Monua Janah
t's show-and-tell time at this week's Microsoft Professional Developers Conference in San Diego as the company begins to deliver on its vaunted enterprise computing strategy.
Microsoft plans to deliver the first beta code for its long-delayed Windows NT 5.0, including its Active Directory, which is critical to the company's long-term distributed computing strategy. "NT 5.0 is a 'bet the farm' product," says Rob Enderle, an analyst with Giga Information Group in Santa Clara, Calif. "If it performs, it takes high-end Unix out in customers' minds. If not, it substantially damages Microsoft's credibility." The beta comes on the heels of last week's announcement that NT Server 4.0 Enterprise Edition was released to manufacturing.
Also at the conference: Cisco Systems Inc. will give the first public demonstration of network-management software that works with Active Directory.
Microsoft also released basic pricing for Windows NT 4.0 Enterprise Edition. As expected, the price is $3,999 for a 25-client license (IW, June 16, p. 14). The upgrade price for users of NT Server 4.0 Standard Edition is $3,199, which includes a 25-client license in addition to the clients that the user has already licensed for the Standard Edition product, says Gary Schare, lead product manager for Windows NT/E.
Microsoft is also expected to present a more cohesive vision of how to do distributed computing with upcoming versions of its products and tools, including a further evolution of its network-based object model known as COM3.
Win98 Delay
Meanwhile, Microsoft officials confirmed last week that the shipping date for Windows 98 has slipped to the second quarter of next year. The change was necessitated by user demand for a smooth upgrade from Windows 3.1 from the outset, rather than in a secondary release, says Phil Holden, product manager in Microsoft's Windows product group.
Microsoft had planned to ship Windows 98 late this year or early in 1998 with the ability to upgrade smoothly over Windows 95. However, easy upgrading from 3.x versions of Windows was not originally expected to be available for three to six months after the initial shipment of Windows 98.

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