The Microsoft Windows Operating System Family
You can meet all your computing needs today by choosing a mix of Microsoft® Windows® 95 and Windows NT™ Workstation operating systems within your organization. Both Windows 95 and Windows NT Workstation 3.51 are designed to deliver a common set of capabilities that all customers need – great application support, ease of use, connectivity, and manageability. Most importantly, both products provide a platform for a new generation of Win32®-based applications that provide new features and greater performance and reliability than today’s Win16-based applications. (See the summary of similarities of the two systems, page 4).
Two Desktop Operating System Products
Windows 95 is designed to deliver new capabilities and improved reliability – while still providing good performance on mainstream systems and high compatibility with your current Windows and MS-DOS®-based applications and devices. The new capabilities delivered by Windows 95 will enable your organization to reduce its PC support burden, provide you with greater control over the desktop, and make your people more productive. High compatibility and moderate system resource requirements make it possible for you to realize these benefits throughout much of your organization with low migration costs, providing a rapid return on your investment.
Windows NT Workstation is designed to meet your most demanding business needs by exploiting scaleable hardware designs and providing the highest level of reliabiliity and protection possible for your data, applications, and system. This requires greater hardware requirements than Windows 95, and places some limitations on compatibility with existing hardware and software. However, Windows NT Workstation can provide a high return on investment by increasing user productivity and reducing application and system downtime. (See the summary of differences between the two systems, later in this Chapter).
Today, Windows 95 and Windows NT Workstation share technologies in OLE and networking. In the future, we expect them to will share even more capabilities, including the new user interface, Plug and Play capabilities, OpenGL 3-D API’s, and multimedia API’s. Due to differences in product cycles, the technologies noted may appear on one product prior to the other, but these differences will be temporary. This means that your investment will be protected by having the ability to run the same Win32®-based applications across both platforms.
Choosing The Right Product For Your Organization
To determine which product to use, examine the usage scenario and the business problem you’re trying to solve. Whether you’re filling out expense reports on a plane or calculating the results of massive scientific models in a high-security laboratory, Microsoft has a Windows operating system that meets your needs. Consider the following examples:
Mobile Users
Many companies have employees who spend a significant fraction of their working hours away from their office, whether they’re at a customer site, in a hotel, or in remote locations, and rely on mobile form-factor computers to help them perform their jobs. These mobile computer users need integrated features, such as electronic mail, fax, and remote networking, which ease information access from whatever location. They need a high level of compatibility with their current devices and applications, and an operating system which places moderate demands on the system (RAM, disk space, battery power) and provides Plug and Play device configuration capabilities. For these users, Windows 95 is the best choice today.
Developers and Technical Users
Developers, engineers, scientific researchers, statisticians, and other technical users often run processing-intensive applications, while also using business productivity applications. Today, many of these users must have both a UNIX-based workstation and a PC on their desk to get their job done. Windows NT Workstation can save costs by meeting their demands for greater processing power while also running Windows-based personal and business productivity applications on the same system. Windows NT Workstation provides the performance of a leading-edge workstation or mini-computer at a fraction of the cost, with its support for symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) and its portability to different high-performance platforms like those based on Alpha AXP, PowerPC, or MIPS-based CPUs.
Business Desktop
For the business desktop, you need to examine the business problem you’re trying to solve. It is very likely that you’ll want to deploy both products in your organization today. For instance, your human resources department may require the high level of security and protection of Windows NT Workstation, while many others parts of your organization will deploy Windows 95. To determine the right combination of Windows 95 and Windows NT Workstation that is best for your business, you need to address the following:
Is Windows NT Workstation compatible with your existing hardware and software?
To answer this question, you need to determine:
Do you need the additional application and system protection features offered by Windows NT Workstation?
In some situations, the business cost from a disruption in service caused by an application bringing down another application or the system can be very high. This may occur in a transaction-processing environment where the data that may be lost due to an application error is extremely valuable, or a customer service environment where the cost of keeping the customer waiting while restarting the system is high. Windows NT Workstation can help minimize these costs by running Win16 applications in separate address space (often referred to as separate virtual machines) so that if one Win16 applications fails, all of the other applications will continue to run. Win32-based applications running on both platforms provide greater reliability through use of separate memory address areas, multiple asynchronous message queues, and structured exception handling.
Windows NT provides an additional level of protection for the system by completely separating operating system and application code. Windows NT Workstation can also be configured to automatically restart if the system goes down. If the value of these additional protection features offered by Windows NT Workstation is greater than the value of the higher level of compatibility offered by Windows 95, then you should move to Windows NT Workstation now.
Do you require the data security features offered by Windows NT Workstation?
For example, within industries or functions that need to protect sensitive data or application files, such as banking, defense, or human resources, the value of having a secure desktop is very high. (Data on a server would, of course, be protected by the server system’s security capabilities). Both Windows 95 and Windows NT Workstation can help prevent naive users from damaging their system configuration. Beyond this, the Windows NT File System (NTFS) can be configured to completely restrict access to systems and data. This prevents malicious users from deleting system files or damaging line-of-business applications.
With these features, a Windows NT desktop system can even be shared by multiple users and still maintain security for all files on the system. In addition, Windows NT Workstation is currently in the evaluation phase for the government C2 level security specification. If the value of these additional security features offered by Windows NT Workstation is greater than the value of the higher level of compatibility offered by Windows 95, then you should move to Windows NT Workstation now.
Overall, Windows 95 is the best choice where you need to leverage your investment in your existing infrastructure by using your existing applications and devices as you make a steady transition to Win32-based applications and more capable hardware. In other cases where the highest levels of protection for applications, system and data are required to meet your business needs, Windows NT Workstation is the best choice.
Planning the Operating System Rollout in the Organization
You should deploy both Windows 95 and Windows NT Workstation today based on the previous guideline. Combined, the two products will provide you with tangible benefits today and the ability to deploy new Win32-based applications throughout your organization now and in the future. Instead of having multiple operating systems with different APIs (MS-DOS, Windows, Macintosh, UNIX), you can consolidate on one application platform today. And because applications that carry the “Designed for Windows 95” logo must also run on Windows NT Workstation, and because future releases of Windows NT Workstation will share the Windows 95 user interface, users will be able to switch between the two operating systems with little or no impact. As the constraints of compatibility with legacy hardware and software diminish over time, you can adjust your mix of system products accordingly.
For the greatest flexibility in the future, you should plan your hardware purchases today to be compatible with and provide adequate resources for responsive performance running a full suite of applications on future releases of Windows NT Workstation. You should buy at least 16MB of RAM and 500 MB of disk space (more will always give you greater flexibility) and selecting products from vendors who are providing device support for Windows NT Workstation.
Figure 1. Windows Family Operating System Deployment Guide
Similarities of Windows 95 and Windows NT Workstation
This table summarizes features which the products will share over time. Feature differences which exist today but will be resolved in the future are noted as “Future Release”.
| Product Feature | Windows 95 | Windows NT Workstation | Application Support |
|---|---|---|
| Win32 API for application development, OLE for linking data across applications | Yes | Yes |
| Preemptive multitasking of Win32 applications | Yes | Yes |
| Runs the majority of Win16 applications | Yes | Yes |
| Multimedia API’s (DibEngine, Direct Draw, DirectSound, Direct Input, Reality Lab 3D graphics libraries) | Yes | Future Release |
| OpenGL graphics libraries for 3D graphics | Future Release | Yes | Ease of Use |
| Auto-detection and configuration of hardware during installation | Yes | Yes |
| Next-generation Windows User Interface | Yes | Future Release |
| Plug and Play technology that lets you add hardware automatically and dynamically reconfigure the system | Yes | Future Release | Connectivity |
| LAN connectivity and peer-to-peer networking, with all popular protocols including TCP/IP, IPX/SPX, DLC and NetBEUI | Yes | Yes |
| Open networking architecture provides choice of clients, transports and drivers and extensibility for support of third party networking applications | Yes | Yes |
| Built-in Remote Access services | Yes | Yes |
| Built-in universal inbox providing email and fax | Yes | Future Release |
| Built-in Microsoft Network (MSN) client software | Yes | Future Release | Manageability |
| Open system management architecture provides infrastructure for third party system management solutions | Yes | Yes |
| Supports existing and emerging system management standards (SNMP, DMI) | Yes | Yes |
| System Policies to provide centralized control over desktop configuration | Yes | Future Release |
| User profiles to provide consistent configuration for roving users or different users sharing a single system | Yes | Yes |
| Remote monitoring of system performance | Yes | Yes | System and Peripheral Support |
| Fully exploits 386DX, 486, and Pentium platforms | Yes | Yes |
| Disk compression | Yes (for VFAT file system) | Yes (for NTFS file system) |
| Dynamic PCMCIA support (don’t have to reboot system to add a device) | Yes | Static today, Yes in Future Release | Support and Service |
| Quick Fix Engineering teams to solve critical problems at specific sites | Yes | Yes |
| Regular Service Pack releases to provide new drivers, component updates, and problem fixes | Yes | Yes |
Differences of Windows 95 and Windows NT Workstation
This section summarizes differences in the two products that will persist over time.
| Product Feature | Windows 95 | Windows NT Workstation | Application Support |
|---|---|---|
| System Resource Capacity | Greatly expanded | Unlimited |
| Runs MS-DOS applications | Yes | Most1 |
| Runs IBM Presentation Manager (through 1.3) & POSIX 1003.1 applications | No | Yes | Application and Data Protection |
| Preemptive multitasking for Win16 applications | No | Yes |
| System completely protected from errant Win16 and Win32 applications | No | Yes |
| NTFS file system provides complete protection of files on a stand-alone system (Files, folders, and applications can be made “invisible” to specific users) | No | Yes |
| Has automatic recovery from a system failure | No | Yes | System and Peripheral Requirements and Support1 |
| Runs MS-DOS device drivers | Yes | No |
| Runs Win16 device drivers | Yes | No |
| Minimum recommended RAM | 8MB | 12MB |
| Typical disk space requirement | 40MB | 90MB |
| Runs on PowerPC, MIPS, and DEC Alpha AXP-based RISC systems | No | Yes |
| Supports multi-processor configurations for scaleable performance without changing operating system or applications | No | Yes |
1 Windows NT Workstation requires 12 MB RAM 486 or greater, or compatible RISC-based system. Also, certain categories of applications that try to directly access hardware will not work on Windows NT Workstation because they compromise security or system robustness (e.g. applications that try to directly access hardware such as Norton Utilities, some MS-DOS games requiring specialized hardware access, and old MS-DOS and Windows device drivers, including VxDs). In some cases, we have been able to virtualize access to the hardware. For instance, Windows NT Workstation v. 3.51 supports Delrina WinFax Pro and WinFax Lite.
Evaluating Windows 95
As you compare Windows 95 with other operating system products on the market, including Windows 3.1, you should examine the following areas to help identify the operating system that best meets your needs and the needs of your users:
Ease of Use
It is important to look at the ease-of-use aspects of an operating system from the perspectives of both a novice and an experienced user. Novice users include both people who have never used a PC and people who have used one infrequently, often because they find PCs intimidating. Novices might have trouble moving around the user interface and might need more information or coaching—for example, from an online Help system. Experienced users generally interact with more areas of the operating system than novice users, and they demand flexibility, speed, and power.
As you evaluate the ease of use of an operating system, it’s helpful to answer these questions:
The term system performance refers to how the operating system performs overall while performing a set of broad tasks—for example, running a group of applications and programs that are normally run simultaneously. The term performance also refers to the ability of individual system components or subsystems to perform a more narrow set of tasks—for example, file input/output (I/O) operations.
Several available suites of benchmarks test the ability of operating systems to complete a set of tasks that are designed to mimic real-world use of a particular PC/operating system combination. These benchmark suites produce numbers that represent the responsiveness of the operating system for a given set of commercially available applications. You can run the same set of applications in your environment and use the benchmark information to determine the relative performance of various operating systems.
However, benchmark suites don’t tell the whole story. In addition to running application benchmark suites, you should isolate and separately test various components and subsystems of the operating system to obtain low-level results that indicate how well the operating system can support the services used by applications. Areas commonly isolated and benchmarked on standalone PCs include the performance of the local file system for disk and file I/O, the performance of the graphics subsystem and video display drivers for graphics and text I/O, and the performance of the printing subsystem for printing I/O. In addition, you should test desktop operating systems in networked environments for their ability to support network I/O throughput for the supported network clients, as well as server functionality responsiveness (if supported by the operating system).
All operating systems perform at their best on a PC that has the maximum amount of RAM. However, most users’ PCs have less than the maximum amount. You should run performance tests against different hardware configurations, including memory ranges from 4 MB to 16 MB and PCs containing Intel 80386DX, 80486, and Intel Pentium–based CPUs. Because different hardware resources deliver different performance testing results, it’s important to test not only on more than one PC configuration, but also on hardware that is currently mainstream in the industry.
As you evaluate the performance of an operating system, it’s helpful to answer these questions:
When it’s time to replace an old operating system, a key question to consider is “Can my company still use its existing hardware and software with the new operating system?” Your company has probably invested a large amount of money in applications, printers, modems, and other PC-related peripheral devices. It’s important to find out whether the replacement operating system can run with the existing hardware and software.
It’s also important to know how broad a range of devices is supported by the operating system you choose. No doubt, as your company grows, your hardware needs will grow too. Your choice of an operating system should not unreasonably restrict the peripheral devices your company can buy later. The operating system you choose should include ample device drivers, not only to support the devices you currently own, but also those you will buy in the future.
When examining device support of an operating system, consider the number of devices supported, the industry standards that the operating system supports, and compatibility with existing device drivers shipped with earlier operating systems or with the devices themselves.
As you evaluate the device and application support of an operating system, it’s helpful to answer these questions:
In a corporate environment, an operating system must be able to provide network support for a broad base of clients. You should compare each operating system’s ability to support connectivity in a heterogeneous environment, as well as how successfully network functionality and other areas of the system, such as the user interface, are integrated in each operating system. Bear in mind that, in general, companies are not looking for the incorporation of proprietary network functionality in an operating system. They want the operating system to support industry-wide standards so that they don’t have to rely on a single vendor to support a multivendor environment.
As you evaluate the networking support of an operating system, it’s helpful to answer these questions:
PCs are now one of the largest expenses of an MIS organization. Medium and large businesses invest tens of thousands of dollars each year, not only on the hardware and software for new and existing computer systems, but also for setup and administration of these systems. Currently, the available tools for managing and administering PCs in a networked environment have little consistency and almost no integration.
Standards organizations are now working to simplify system administration by developing standard methods for managing PCs. These standards will mean better and more integrated management tools for the network administrator. For an administrator to reap any benefits, however, the operating system must support management mechanisms that adhere to existing standards or its infrastructure must be designed for adaptability to a new standard.
As you evaluate the support for manageability and administration of an operating system, it’s helpful to answer the following questions:
With the explosive growth of services such as CompuServe, America Online, and the Internet, the increase in demand for an operating system that provides access to online and mail services has been dramatic. The support and services provided by an operating system can open the door to the Information Age, allowing users to discover new communications and messaging possibilities.
As you evaluate the communications and messaging support of an operating system, it’s helpful to answer these questions:
To realize seamless mobility, users must be able to easily communicate and remain productive, whether they are in the office, at a customer site, or at home. Users must be able to communicate with coworkers and clients regardless of their location. In addition, transitions from home computer to portable computer to office computer must not cause interruptions in workflow. Including support for mobility services as part of the operating system ensures tight integration and connectivity between portable computers and desktop PCs, allowing minimal work interruptions as users switch from one location and/or computer to another.
As you evaluate the support for mobile services of an operating system, it’s helpful to answer these questions: