dacs.doc electric

Lo, those many years ago, I made my reputation as the reviewer of the DACS General Meeting presentations by hammering Microsoft for a poor showing. I believe it was Windows NT 3.5. The presenter was way off target, having no clue to the effect and his PowerPoint presentation were having on the audience that was listening to him drone on and on …and on. Other Microsoft meetings followed, including the incredibly inept presentation of Office 98, more blistering reviews on my part and my reputation was cast in stone. "Wally hates Microsoft!"

As I write this article—my last as an active DACS member—I am here to tell you that I do not hate Microsoft at all. I hate lousy, uninformed, ill-prepared, amateurish presentations. When they come from Microsoft, who should have a larger pool of talent to draw from, I really get cranky.
Therefore, I am happy to report that for my last review, I get to write a positive one about Microsoft—perhaps my first. In fact, it was an extremely well focused, professional presentation of Windows Millennium Edition, by John F. Strolney, Channel Marketing Representative from Microsoft’s Farmington, CT office.

You may ask, "Why is there a Windows Millennium Edition if there is already Windows 2000?" It is a good question, and John laid it out very simply.

Windows 2000, which hit the streets in February of this year is the replacement for Windows NT 4.0. It is aimed at businesses and power users running newer equipment. Backwards compatibility is not a real concern for Microsoft in regards to Windows2000. If your hardware and software is on the compatbility list, then great. If not, then it is too bad.

Windows Millennium Editon (Me) is the follow up to Windows 98. It is aimed at the consumer market, with backwards compatibility a major focus. Windows 98 and now Me are much more forgiving of older equipment and dated software applications. Of course, Me will really shine when running the fastest equipment on the market.

Just as Windows 98 was not a groundbreaking upgrade to Windows 95, Me is not much different from Windows 98. According to John, Microsoft’s market research revealed that most people do not want a drastically revamped user interface. They just want each successive release to work more smoothly, to be more stable, and support the latest and greatest hardware. With Me, Microsoft seems to have hit the target.

There are four major areas that Microsoft wanted to concentrate on in this release: managed digital media; improved user experience; enhanced home networking, and a rich Internet experience. John gave us a demonstration of each of these areas during his fast-paced, lively demonstration.
Digital media has become a very important use for the PC. Scanned-in and digital camera images are used all the time. Almost everyone who has a PC also has pictures of their children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, pets or significant others stashed somewhere on their hard drives.

Me now has a very powerful tool that allows you to:

• Automatically organize photos as you import them from a digital camera.
• Store thumbnail views of your pictures for at-a-glance organization.
• Use the Image Preview feature to view your pictures without opening an image-editing program.
• Use buttons in the preview window to zoom in and out of picture details, view the picture in a larger window, print the picture, or rotate it.
• Open a full-resolution representation of your picture in Windows Explorer or My Computer.
  Create a slideshow.

Me also allows you to edit, catalog, and e-mail your home movies and play your favorite music and listen to the radio online.

Windows Me makes it easier for computer users to get the most out of their PCs in a number of ways, with wizards, tours, help resources, and support for the latest hardware. Windows Me also improves upon previous versions of Windows by automatically delivering the latest updates and patches to your desktop, and allowing you to easily recover your computer settings if something goes wrong with them. For added safety, the files you need to keep your computer up and running are always protected.

John showed us how the system stops you from deleting critical files. It would not allow him to remove DLLs that would have rendered the operating system useless. He also showed us how Windows Restore can bring your system back to the way it was before you installed that application that really messed things up. So, if the latest shoot ’em up game goofed up your video drivers, you can let Windows Restore return the settings to the way they were before you installed it.

Windows Me makes it easy to set up a home network. Now it is easy to share an Internet connection, printers, music files, and digital pictures, or play games head-to-head among multiple computers in your home. It is also easy to connect the latest network-ready devices to your home network.

Finally, John showed us how Me provides a very powerful, flexible way to browse Web sites, send e-mail, chat. That power is centered around Internet Explorer 5.5. Actually IE 5.5 has been available for download from Microsoft’s Web site for some time, so there was no real surprise there. He also demonstrated MSG Messanger, which is now very well integrated with Outlook Express 5.5 and MSN Hotmail. It was a neat little system.

Overall, the audience seemed impressed as was I. I plan to install Me on my home PC. I had installed Windows 2000, but have not been happy with they way it handles games. I plan to blow away my current installation of Windows 2000 and install Windows Me. If you plan to install it yourself, I always recommend backing up your data and installing fresh. That way, you don’t inherit any quirks or flakiness that may be plaguing your current installation.

For more information about Windows Me, you should visit www.microsoft.com/windowsME/ default.asp. The website is very informative.

Well, there you have it; a review by Wally that was not a negative one. It is nice to leave on a positive note.