Information just released on windows 98.
biz.yahoo.com
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Sunday June 21, 2:02 pm Eastern Time
Microsoft sets low expectations for Windows 98
By Martin Wolk
SEATTLE, June 21 (Reuters) - Windows 98, the computer system at the heart of the landmark antitrust case against software giant Microsoft Corp., goes on sale this week amid subdued expectations and lukewarm early reviews.
While Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates and his marketing wizards will ensure the software upgrade gets its share of the media spotlight when it is launched formally Thursday, the atmosphere is far removed from the virtual frenzy that greeted its predecessor Windows 95 nearly three years ago.
Hitting the market just as personal computers were becoming commonplace in the home, Windows 95 was awaited breathlessly on Main Street and Wall Street, where investors hoped for a multibillion-dollar upgrade wave that developed more slowly than expected.
But if Windows 95 was a breakthrough with its new user interface and advanced platform for software developers, Windows 98 is more of a tuneup that wraps together all the bug fixes, feature improvements and Internet enhancements Microsoft has added in the past three years.
''This is a packaging exercise,'' said Dataquest analyst Chris Le Tocq.
''This is not a little slice of operating system heaven,'' he said. ''If you have a system that's working right now on Windows 95, your need to go out and mess with it is zero.''
Nevertheless, he expects Microsoft to sell 5.5 million copies of the product at retail, where it will fetch about $90, and another 11 million copies next year. That is a far slower upgrade rate than Windows 95 but still enough to generate more than $1.3 billion in incremental revenue for Microsoft.
Windows 98 also is expected to replace Windows 95 completely as the operating system preloaded on new computers for the consumer market, although most businesses are expected to stick with Windows 95 for now.
In recent days, Microsoft's stock price has been creeping up, and some analysts suggest that Microsoft executives have been deliberately keeping expectations low.
''I do think the product has a little bit of a potential to be a sleeper success story,'' conceded Yusuf Mehdi, director of Windows marketing. He noted that even if Windows 98 has a lower rate of penetration it will do well because the installed base of computers -- including more than 120 million running Windows 95 -- is so much bigger than it was three years ago.
Like most major Microsoft products Windows 98 is coming to market late, but at least it is coming to market.
Federal and state regulators who are suing Microsoft over alleged abuse of its monopoly position considered asking a federal judge to block the release of Windows 98 because of its tight integration of Internet browsing features.
The U.S. Justice Department's antitrust division and attorneys general from 20 states argue that Microsoft is illegally leveraging its 95 percent share of the operating system market to take over the market for Internet browsers.
But instead of trying to block the new version, the antitrust complaints seek an order forcing the Redmond, Wash.-based company to make changes to the operating system -- an issue that will be decided after a trial set to begin Sept. 8.
In fact the Windows 98 browser is the same Internet Explorer version 3.0 preloaded on new computers with the latest versions of Windows 95. Computer makers and users are free to install a rival browser from Netscape Communications Corp., but Microsoft is likely to see its share of the strategically important browser market continue to rise.
Among other new features Windows 98 relies on the browser functionality and the Internet itself to make it easier for users to get help and keep their system up-to-date. And the software includes built-in support for a new generation of hardware peripherals such as color scanners, digital cameras and even television tuning boards.
Microsoft also is touting the system as faster and more reliable than Windows 95.
But Microsoft is counseling business customers to steer clear of Windows 98 entirely and opt instead for its higher-priced Windows NT system, which is expected to have a long-awaited major upgrade available by early next year.
That is the product Gates and other Microsoft executives see as truly critical to the company's future and its ambitions to move its software into ever-larger corporate and enterprise installations. |
