HIGH TECH CORNER: SHOULD YOU UPGRADE TO WINDOWS 2000? MAYBE

I have been running Windows 2000 here at my shop for over a good year and I like it very much. Now that the production version of Win2000 is shipping, my friends ask me quite often if they should upgrade. The answer to this huge question is YES and NO. What I mean is that Win2000 is not for everybody. First, you have to find a store that is actually carrying it in stock. I asked a local computer store when they were going to get one of the three versions of Win2000 in (yes, there are three different versions), and I was told that they don't recommend it. When I proceeded to push further on this question, I found out that they were making these comments without having ever installed it themselves. Don't let this FUD (Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt) scare you, as Win2000 is great for some of us. If you were currently running Windows NT 4.0 as either a server or as your desktop, then I would have to say run out and buy it so you can put it on today. Your world of computing will take on a large degree of added stability and performance enhancements.

This is also coupled with all the new features that Win2000 has over NT 4.0.

Those of you are currently running Windows 98 release 1 or release 2, I would have to say that the need for you to upgrade is a solid maybe. If you are a user that has fairly current hardware, then you are a solid candidate for upgrade. Don't expect to run Win2000 on old hardware for two reasons. The first is this is a huge operating system that takes up lots of space, RAM and CPU cycles. The second problem is device drivers. Win2000 is a true 32-bit operating system, and older Windows 98 drivers are not compatible at all. This is coupled with the fact that most hardware manufacturers are only writing Win2000 drivers for their new hardware. So check out your hardware manufacture first to see if the drivers even exist.

If your hardware is current and you are a business user, then your upgrade possibilities are much greater. Business users tend to run applications like Word, Excel and Presentation Manager. These applications will run up to 13 percent faster under Win2000 over Windows 98. So if your boss wants more out of you every day and you want your computer to crash far less often than Win98 does, then you should definitely consider the upgrade. If you are a home user who drifts between Office 2000 and old applications that you have had for years and never upgraded, then the upgrade option is far less desirable.

Older applications have a tendency to be 16-bit only. They also did not follow the rules as set by Microsoft, from a code standpoint, so they could inch out a little more performance in their day. At the time this might have been a good thing. But in today's quickly improving technology world, the simple answer is to go out and buy new hardware if your program is running to slow.

Now if you are running games, then Windows 2000 is even less of an upgrade option. Newer games like Quake will run without a hitch. However, games always want to look fast, and with older games the issue of proper coding versus inching out some additional speed holds true here as well.

Now let's go into the three different versions of Win2000. The first version is called the Professional version. It only supports one CPU, and it is really oriented for the desktop, not the server. The second version is the real server version. It does support up to two CPUs running true multi-tasking. If you are running NT as a server or editing audio or video, then this is the one for you. The third version is the real enterprise server version. I have seen it running with eight CPUs at the same time. This is truly a "Wow!" system. Next time, some local ISP upgrades.

As always if you have any comments or questions, please contact me at rich@digitallabs@ldd.com.