"Yeah, now we know," says Sevenko, smiling ruefully. "We
are, as you may know, releasing a major release of our NT
product lines which you will find we are saying the end of
this year, the beginning of next year...(mumble,
mumble)...the operating system will upgrade to (mumble). I
can't comment here on what's happening to my monitor."
Vs. Microsoft: Windows 98: Taking It to
the Streets
By Cate T. Corcoran
Special to TheStreet.com
5/9/98 12:15 AM ET
SAN FRANCISCO -- At 7:30 p.m. sharp, the fake coughing
starts, a la Animal House.
"The first presentation will be from Microsoft
(MSFT:Nasdaq), and the second one from Borland
(BORL:Nasdaq)," announces Pierre Hahn, president of the
San Francisco PC Users Group, at the computer club's
monthly meeting on April 21. About 100 club members are
gathered here in a small auditorium in the State of California
building in San Francisco's Civic Center area to see
Microsoft demo its new Windows 98 operating system.
Some are home users, some are freelance box builders and
network assemblers, some are business users sent by their
bosses to glean tech tips for free. I am here to answer one
burning question: What does the guy in the trenches think of
Windows 98, particularly the controversial integrated
browser?
After the Borland mention, someone hollers "Boooo..."
"That's a weird one," says Bob Student, a burly database
expert in a tie-dyed shirt and beard sitting in the back row.
Laughter ensues.
"I don't think we need to go through that," says the
president. "This is a pleasant group. We have some very
sharp tongues, but I don't think we need to boo." He
welcomes Microsoft's Brad Sevenko, senior systems
engineer, to the podium. Polite applause.
"Questions before we start?" Sevenko asks.
"Yeah, how many people got fired when the system
crashed?" More laughter.
"Yeah, you've all heard about that, have you?" asks
Sevenko. "Bill Gates was doing a presentation a couple of
days ago. He had a little problem with Windows 98."
Suddenly, Student in tie-dye yelps and leaps up from his
chair. Everyone turns to watch as he whirls around to
inspect the wall behind him, which has suddenly popped
open a previously hidden door and startled him. Then
everyone turns back to Sevenko. He looks nervous. He's
holding his chin in one hand, his other arm across his chest.
He talks at warp speed and swallows half his words. The
audience, most of whom are twice his age, strains to listen.
"People are asking Microsoft if Windows 98 is going to be
the last revolution of the Win98-x operating systems. At this
time it's looking fairly positive that that's a correct statement.
We're moving towards..." The screen goes blank. "Uh, the
screen saver, for some reason I'm not in sync here," he
says. Coughing.
"Now we know how Bill feels!" says someone.
"Yeah, now we know," says Sevenko, smiling ruefully. "We
are, as you may know, releasing a major release of our NT
product lines which you will find we are saying the end of
this year, the beginning of next year...(mumble,
mumble)...the operating system will upgrade to (mumble). I
can't comment here on what's happening to my monitor."
"Is this a new feature?" someone asks.
"That's a dual display," someone else says. More laughter.
A sneeze. The screen is still blank. Time for Q&A, Sevenko
announces. A woman from Microsoft wearing a bright yellow
blazer races out of the room in search of another projector.
"How easy is it to replace Internet Explorer with Netscape
or any other browser out there?" someone wants to know.
If you set your browser as the default browser, it will remain
your default browser, explains Sevenko. "Our objective is not
to put people out of business; our objective is not to make
things more difficult to use," he says. "This is so vitally
important to Microsoft, it's our user community. We're still
selling 35,000 units per month of Windows 3.x. It's very
important that we not anger our user community. It's very
important to take these guys to the next generation of
operating system, usability that they're used to using, and
the whole bit. So we take the whole game very seriously,"
he finishes. The woman in the yellow blazer dashes in with a
replacement projector.
Will Win 98 exploit multiple CPU systems? someone asks.
No.
Does it still run under DOS?
Windows 98 will run 16-bit apps, Sevenko says. The
projector is up. The slide is up. The slide is upside down.
"Is that upside down?" someone asks. "Or are we upside
down?"
"It's Windows 99," quips someone.
Sevenko rights the slide. Clapping, cheers. Back to
business.
"My manager is concerned that Windows 98 can't accept
email from someone with Windows 95," says a woman in a
business suit. The screen starts to flash on and off.
"Now we're running out of power, so let me deal with the
power problem," says Sevenko. More laughter. "Will Access
work on Windows 98?" he says, repeating another question.
"Absolutely."
But what about early versions?
"Before we release any program, we thoroughly test it with
every product... " Cough, cough.
"FoxPro didn't work," says the questioner.
"It works fine on mine," says someone else.
"We're losing time," says a third. The slide show comes
back up. "Windows 98," it says. "Works better, plays
better." Sevenko explains that the operating system
contains 3,000 bug fixes and system tweaks for better
performance and faster startup time. Plus it works with more
cards and monitors. It also runs WebTV and has that
infamous integrated browser. "We're actually expecting an
85% upgrade rate from our Win 95 product to Win 98,"
Sevenko says, sounding much more bullish than Microsoft
ever does when it talks to Wall Street.
He switches from presentation slides to a product demo, but
the icons and menus are too small to be seen from the
audience. "Can you see that?" he asks. "I go up to six by
four and it gets smaller." The screen is unreadable, but he
continues the demo. He explains that in Windows 98, the
user can build his or her own toolbar. One person claps.
"Yup," Sevenko says. "It's fairly cool. But it doesn't stop
there though." Everyone laughs. Then he demos the
borderless TV window. Then the maintenance wizard. He
mentions a new backup utility.
"What happened to Norton Utilities?" someone wants to
know.
"What are we doing with Norton Utilities? They're actually
supplying technology within the Windows 98 product.
Actually, do not quote me on that. I do not think it was
Norton Utilities, so I will back up and check that last one ... I
don't want a quote 'cause I know someone is here from the
press," he says.
He wraps it up. "I apologize for this demo," he says. "There
was lots more I would have liked to have shown you."
Out in the lobby, an excited group is debating whether
Microsoft is a monopoly. No one seems much interested in
Windows 98. Some people smell like they haven't bathed in
a week.
"I'm not a good person to interview," says Nicholas
Pasquariello, who uses his home PC for publishing. He has
a neatly trimmed salt and pepper beard, and he is wearing
shorts and holding a down jacket and a backpack. Why not?
"I'm using Windows 3.1 and I'm against big companies in
general. The reason I haven't upgraded is I'd have to buy a
new computer. No, Windows 98 is not compelling for me.
Maybe if I were making $100,000 a year. Maybe if I were Bill
Gates."
"Is Microsoft the only operating system out there?" asks a
guy named Jonathan North with chin-length white hair. His
glasses are missing one temple, and he is wearing a
Richard Hongisto for Mayor T-shirt with peeling letters. He
grabs someone's arm. "Is Microsoft making an OS for the
Mac? In order to be a monopoly in my view you have to
have..."
"I love Bill," says Student, jumping in. "I used to hate Bill --
that was back in the DOS 5 days. Now I spend three days
getting up and running, and I'm going to make a lot of
money." And what did he think of Windows 98?
"I fell asleep twice," he said.
David Hart, retired banker, approaches. "This is Goliath and
they're David," he explains, referring to the club. "These are
little guys and this is the only time they get to bark at
Goliath. It's recess for them. The group is always a little
contentious." He turns to Student. "What fashion statement
are you giving?" he asks, gesturing toward Student's
dropped-suspenders-and-belt combination.
"You can never have enough backup," says Student, pulling
the suspenders on and off and parading around.
"It is a monopoly and it's not being stopped," says
Pasquariello.
"Would you like to go back to CPM? DOS 3.1?" asks
Student.
"My first computer was an Altair," North says.
The newly elected vice president of the club, Butler
Crittenden, refuses to state his opinion of Windows 98 within
earshot of North and Student. He moves his tall and skinny
self (his fashion statement is a black Alaska T-shirt and a
black Alaska baseball hat) off to a secluded corner. "My
reaction to Windows 98 is complex, but once I learn it, it will
help me," he said. "There are features for cleaning up
registries. I do the same thing all day that they do -- I install
networks, I build computers," he says, explaining why he
can use the improved registry. "I'm now a Netscape 4.01
user, and I like it and I'll continue to use it for my Internet
connection," he adds.
"I'm going to buy it," says Hart. "But I'm not going to be the
first in line. I already have the '95 49B which has all the USB
functionality, the little plug-in things, so why buy Version 1?
These new issues always have problems." |
