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Technology Stocks : NCDI - Network Computing Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jim Henke who wrote (3603)	3/12/1998 2:32:00 AM
From: Costa Kapantais	Respond to of 4453

Microsoft advances its NC alternative By Mary Jo Foley, Sm@rtReseller 03.11.98 10:00 am ET Capitalizing on a momentary lull among its network computer competitors, Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) is about to turn up the volume on its alternative, the Microsoft Windows Terminal Server, code-named Hydra. Starting today, Microsoft will begin shipping Beta 2 of the product to 1,100 testers, said John Frederiksen, group product manager. Microsoft plans to ship copies of Beta 2 to an additional 30,000 testers-including all of the Microsoft Certified Solution Providers-within the next few weeks as part of the Microsoft Evaluation Beta CD that the company delivers regularly. Beta 2 is the final wide-scale beta release before the Redmond, Wash., company delivers the shipping version of the product sometime in the second quarter, Frederiksen said. Microsoft is expected to package Hydra as part of a new multiuser release of NT Server 4.0 and charge users a per-seat licensing fee. But final packaging, pricing and licensing decisions have not been made, Frederiksen cautioned. New to Beta 2 is an automated application installation and configuration utility. Microsoft has designed automated scripts to help customers install 20 to 30 of the most frequently employed applications, said Frederiksen. With Beta 2, Microsoft also has added a client connection manager tool, enabling customers to run individual applications on servers rather than launching full desktop implementations. It also is providing two extended levels of encryption beyond the basic level that was featured in Beta 1. For the first time, with Beta 2, Microsoft also is providing support for Windows CE terminals running Hydra's Remote Desktop Protocol, or T.Share. "We expect Windows Terminals to compete with NCs [network computers] on the desktop. On the server side, we expect to compete with multiuser versions of Unix," Frederiksen said. "Microsoft's thin client strategy is to extend Windows to support NC devices."