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By now you've all heard about Windows 98, and the Microsoft machine hasn't even started promoting it. The newest version of the Windows operating systems, Windows 98 will be available on June 25, but by the time you receive this newsletter you will already have been be barraged with ads telling you to upgrade from 95. But should you?

I'll give you the same advice I gave my dad a few weeks ago. Don't. Well, at least not yet. I've been running Windows 98 for about a month now and have been using the same version you'll be able to buy at the store. But it's installed on an extra computer, not on a machine I rely on daily for productive work. Win 98 has some neat new features but still needs some fixes before I'll even think of installing it on my work computers.

Microsoft is actually promoting Windows NT 5 to their corporate customers. It is expected to be available sometime next year, depending on who you speak with. Windows NT is the true upgrade to Windows 95, and I've been running NT 4.0 Workstation for some time now on one of my computers. I like NT. It's a lot more stable than 95 and is faster and more capable of handling the brutal graphic tasks that I throw at it. But it won't run Quake (or other popular games), so I'm stuck with 95.

Our company is a Microsoft Windows developer, so we've actually had Windows 98 for about six months. So why did we wait to install it? Past experience with Microsoft software has made me gun-shy. It usually takes them several tries to get things right. When I was testing Windows 95, I lost the entire contents of my hard drive—twice. Of course, I was running it for almost a year before it shipped.

What's new?

So what's new in Windows 98? Not as much as I expected. A lot of its new features are already included in "service packs" and "hot fixes." These are software patches you can download today without the cost or hassle of purchasing a installing Windows 98.

The installation took longer than Windows 95 but was a lot smoother. Microsoft appears to have expanded the hardware auto-detection utility, so it was a lot easier than Windows 95 to get up and running. The system also takes up a lot more disk space, which varies based on your installation settings. Here's a quick rundown on the new features:

• Support for large hard drives. FAT32 is a feature that lets you create partitions larger than two gigabytes. Windows 95 can support only two gig, but most computers come with larger drives. FAT32 can also use your hard drive space more efficiently, giving you more space for storage.
• Internet Explorer 4. The Windows 98 version is basically the same one that you can download for Windows 95. My Computer now looks like Explorer, and has different options if you're online or browsing your computer. It's also easier to get online, and the Internet is better integrated into Windows 98.
• Free FrontPad. This is the basic editor from FrontPage, and the one I use when I want to create a Web page. Nice freebie.
• Multiple monitor support. Hmm … Something the Mac has had since 1987, but it's still nice to finally have it under Windows.
• USB support. Universal Serial Bus is a new port for your computer that can simplify adding new devices such as scanners and digital cameras. But you can already get this support in a free patch for Windows 95.
• Faster program loading and startup. I didn't notice any major improvements, but Windows 98 did seem a bit perkier than 95.
• Bug fixes. There were far too many bugs in Windows 95, so Microsoft has released the OEM Service Release 2 version that is much more stable.

WARNING!!! Back up your computer at least once before installing Windows 98. The chance is small, but you could lose everything. I don't have a vendetta against Microsoft; I just speak from experience. I would do a full backup before making any major change to my computer, and it's a good idea to do incremental backups often.

Don't get me wrong, I use a Windows 95 computer every day and actually like it (but I still love the Mac, and that's the difference). I just recommend waiting until Microsoft works the bugs out of the first version of Windows 98. If you don't have to upgrade, don't, at least you until you need it.