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LangaLetter

July 28, 1999

Is Win98 Second Edition Unfit For The Enterprise?
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It's time to reality-check Windows 98 Second Edition with larger enterprises: Have you installed any of the Win98SE variants in your enterprise? If so which one(s)? What were the results? Is Win98 a worthwhile upgrade for larger businesses--or is it just a can or worms waiting to be opened?

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Fred Langa is a senior consulting editor and columnist for Windows Magazine. Fred's free weekly newsletter is available via subscribe@langa.com. You can contact him at fred@langa.com or via his website at http://www.langa.com.
By Fred Langa

Windows 98 Second Edition is now being widely installed, and it's causing a lot of problems. Take the experience of noted software developer Martin Heller:

"I tried to upgrade my main machine from Windows 98 to Second Edition yesterday. It was a nightmare: the upgrade almost completed but kept crashing after a message about a misconfigured video driver.

"I was able to boot from floppy and install SE into a new directory, but then I had to spend the rest of the day and well into the night removing now-useless stuff from the disk and reinstalling the applications I absolutely need. I was at least able to save all of my documents and programming projects."

Note that Martin is an extremely advanced user; less experienced users have run into even more serious problems, some of which they have not been able to recover from.

In fact, last week, over on the Web site of InformationWeek's sister publication Windows Magazine, I asked the readers there (who mostly represent small- and medium-sized businesses) to describe their Win98SE experiences. I was amazed by the response: There were over 200 reader posts in the first 24 hours, and the thread quickly climbed past the 500-message mark.

Almost all the comments were negative, with people reporting misinstalls, hangs, conflicts, and broken components after installation. While you can't draw statistically meaningful conclusions from a self-selected universe (such as those who choose to post to a bulletin board), clearly something is going on.

Part of the problem is that Windows 98 Second Edition comes in so many flavors. For example, the full versions of the software contain:

  • All bug-fixes, patches, and updates
  • Microsoft Internet Explorer 5 (build 5.00.2614.3500)
  • Microsoft NetMeeting 3.0 (build 4.4.3345)
  • Internet connection sharing
  • Device Bay support
  • DirectX 6.1
  • USB modem support
  • MSN, The Microsoft Network, version 5.0
You can get the full version either at retail ("Windows 98 Second Edition Retail;" $209) or in an OEM edition installed on a new PC. The distinguishing characteristic of these full versions is that no previous operating system is required; they can install on a clean hard drive.
  • But there's a third version: The Windows 98 Second Edition Retail Upgrade ($109) meant specifically for computers that already have an earlier version of Windows installed.
  • The Microsoft Web site is contradictory about whether or not this upgrade is appropriate for users of the original Microsoft Windows 98. In one place, Microsoft's Technet states that the upgrade is fine for users of the original Win98, but in another it states that the upgrade is for users of "Microsoft Windows 3.1 through Microsoft Windows 95."
  • A separate section of the Microsoft site, the "Refresh Windows 98" area, also steers Win98 users not to the upgrade but to a fourth option: a $20 "Update" CD containing Win98's "Service Pack One" plus Internet Explorer 5, NetMeeting 3, and Media Player 6.1.
  • OK, that's four versions so far, but there are more. If you want, you can download the contents of the update (but not the upgrade) for free; or you can order just Service Pack One on CD or download it from the Web.
  • Confused? Don't feel bad--that's seven distinct versions, with Microsoft contradicting itself as to whether the key "upgrade" version is appropriate or not for users of the original Win98.
  • If version confusion weren't bad enough, there's a raft of specific issues that crop up repeatedly in user reports once they get one of these seven versions installed, including increased instability and spontaneous reboots, hanging at shut down, loss of dial-up networking or loss of all networking, problems with Outlook, driver problems, and many more.
  • But these reports are mostly from small- and medium-sized businesses. It's time to reality-check Win98SE with larger enterprises: Have you installed any of the Win98SE variants in your enterprise? If so which one(s)? What were the results? Is Win98 a worthwhile upgrade/update for larger businesses--or is it just a can or worms waiting to be opened? Join in!