A peek under the hood of Microsoft's new OS upgrade

Windows Me has taken quite a beating since its Sept. 14 release. Most claim the upgrade is hardly an upgrade at all, while the rest are still trying to get Me running. But Microsoft states that it's satisfied with Millennium Edition. Says a Microsoft spokesperson: "Windows Me was intended as an incremental, yet significant and timely upgrade of technologies for the home PC user to take advantage of the latest trends in home computing. And that's exactly what it is." Keeping that somewhat vague mantra in mind, here's a look at the advancements that the OS has brought to the Windows legacy.

Cool new multimedia tools

Microsoft breaks down Windows Me advances into four categories: digital media, PC Health, home networking, and online experience. When it comes to having fun on your home computer, the digital media features are probably the most appealing of the new additions to Me.

Windows Movie Maker lets users take video footage--whether from the home VCR, digital or analog video camera, Internet or e-mail--and digitize it to perform a variety of editing functions. Scenes can be spliced and users can add graphics, fade and dissolve effects, narration, and music. Windows Me can store more than 20 hours of video per gigabyte of hard-disk space, allowing users to store a decent-sized video collection on their computer. Improved high-powered compression also makes it easier to send a finished home video via e-mail, or post it on a Web site. Me also comes a Video Bus II cable for importing and editing multimedia data from a variety of sources.

Windows Image Acquisition, another addition to Me, facilitates the transfer of digital images from cameras and scanners to a PC. A plug-and-play feature automatically identifies WIA-compliant digital cameras or scanners, and pictures can be viewed before downloading.

The second major digital media component is Windows Media Player 7, a tool for acquiring, recording, and managing audio and video music files. Media Player 7 contains a 10-band equalizer and uses SRS WOW, and audio enhancement technology. Users can listen to audio CDs, tune in to Internet radio stations without having to download content, watch music videos, and choose from a variety of skins and visualizations that move in rhythm with the music. The Media Player library organizes and manages video and audio files from one central location, and the Copy Music feature transfers music easily to a portable device. A Media Guide provides artist, title, and track information as well as artists' biographical information, discography, and links to recordings by musicians in related genres.

Protect your loved ones

Probably the biggest bonus of the Windows upgrade is System Restore, a feature that solves major computing problems by returning the system to a point in time when it was working properly. System Restore takes "snapshots" of hard drive configurations at regular intervals (about every 10 hours of computing time) or any time a major software installation or download is made. These snapshots establish restore points in the wizard that users can return to when a problem occurs. It takes about three minutes to execute the return and overwrite damaged files.

Other advances in PC Health include System File Protection, which prevents critical system files from being overwritten by viruses, rogue applications or keyboard miscues. Another feature automatically notifies users on their desktop about new plug-ins, and gives details about performance improvements, safety and installation options. Windows Me also verifies the authenticity of any newly-installed hardware, checking with the accompanying driver to certify that it is current and safe.

Home networking and the Internet

Windows Me can connect multiple computers, enabling them to share an Internet connection, printers, or folders on a home network. Home users can even chat and play games with other members of the household with DirectPlay Voice. For what Microsoft calls an "improved online experience," Windows Me includes Internet Explorer 5.5, Outlook Express 5.5, MSN Messenger Service and Netmeeting 3.1.

Installation Rx

According to Microsoft, the predominant strength of Windows Me is its improved help and support systems. That's good news for the many upgraders that have had trouble installing and configuring Windows Me. A Microsoft spokesperson advised checking the Windows Me Web site (http://www.microsoft/WindowsMe)for systems requirements and installation tips before upgrading or installing, allowing that problems may occur from incompatibilities with other applications, due to either the removal of RealMode (the code that lets Windows work with older DOS applications) or the addition of the TCP/IP stack from Windows 2000. In many cases, fixes for incompatible applications are are available from the vendor.

For those upgrading from Windows 98 or Windows 98 Second Edition, Windows Me is available through Jan. 15 for $59.95; Windows 95 users will have to pay the $90 street price for the upgrade. Many of the programs in Me can be downloaded for free, such as Internet Explorer 5.5, Wand Outlook Express, NetMeeting, DirectX, and even the Windows Media Player. But in order to get System Restore, Auto Update, and the Windows Movie Maker you will have to upgrade. You can find downloads at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads and the upgrade at Microsoft's Me Web site. Or you can pass on Windows Me and wait for the next Windows upgrade, which Microsoft says will come out in 2001. -Christy Mulligan

Linux soars, Red Hat merely flies:the desktop breaks into a full sprint

According to recent reports, Red Hat is losing its dominance in the Linux field. While Red Hat's market has grown 69 percent from 1998 to 1999, competitors SuSE and Caldera each grew 175 percent, and TurboLinux grew 450 percent in an overall Linux market. Thus, Red Hat's share of the market, currently at 48 percent, is eroding, according to International Data Corp. (IDC). Of course, most companies wouldn't consider growth of 69 percent bad news. Interestingly, Corel controls about 1 percent of the market. Of course, 1998-99 predates some of the major efforts Corel has undertaken in the Linux market, especially with the release of WordPerfect Office 2000, an office software suite.

Corel recently announced Corel Linux OS Second Edition, the newest version of Corel's award-winning Linux distribution. Aimed at desktop users, Corel Linux OS is based on the award-winning Debian distribution, with desktop enhancements from Corel. You can get the distribution in three forms: Download (the version you can download for free), Standard ($29.99 US), and Deluxe ($79.99 US), from Corel's Linux site http://linux.corel.com. The prices are comparable to most other Linux distributions.

Loki Entertainment Software http://www.lokigames.com/ recently released a plethora of games ported from Windows, including Sim City 3000, Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, and Myth II: Soulblighter. This shows the ever-growing presence of Linux on the desktop. Adobe's FrameMaker, in the top tier of desktop publishing program and at the top for manuals and books, has been ported to Linux. See Adobe's FrameMaker site http://www.adobe.com/products/framemaker/fmlinux.html for a beta version you can download. Also on the desktop, Eazel http://www.eazel.com/ and Helix Code http://www.helixcode.com/ are roaring forward with a new file manager and a Microsoft Outlook-like mail client respectively. Helix Code also sells a prebuilt version of the GNOME desktop that takes care of configuration and set-up issues. The Helix GNOME desktop includes an update program that can keep your desktop applications up to date-a great benefit, since some of these applications seem o change on a daily basis. A free download is available, as well. All the news isn't good, though. Struggling Unix vendor SCO is all but gone. Its main assets were sold to Linux vendor Caldera, with the Web-enabling software group forming a new company, Tarantella Inc. http://www.tarantella.com. That's a shame. SCO provided one of the earliest versions of Unix on personal computers. -Eric Foster-Johnson

Apple has bright IDEAs

Apple won the most awards (five) of any corporation in this year's Industrial Design Excellence Awards (IDEAs). Sponsored by Business Week, IDEAs recognize he best product designs of the year in a variety of categories that "highlight the trend of corporations' turning to designers to create concept products that show what can work in the marketplace."

Apple won a Gold Award (the highest) in the Business & Industrial Equipment category for its 22-inch Cinema Display. In the Consumer Products division, the company took a Gold Award for the iSub and a Silver Award for the iBook Adapter. In the category of Environmental Designs, Apple took home two Silver awards for its setup at the Macworld trade shows.

SEC filing: Apple by the numbers

According to a recent SEC filing, Apple shipped over a million computers during the most recent financial quarter, compared to 905,000 units from the same period last year. Apple's revenues rose from $1.68 billion last year to $1.75 billion. Net sales rose 17 per cent in the period, from $1.55 billion to $1.82 billion. Apple's worldwide unit sales were up 12 percent.

Net sales sequentially declined 6 percent, or $120 million, compared to the second quarter. Mac unit sales dipped 3 percent on the same comparative basis and were down 8 percent overall from last year. Apple attributed the decline to slowing iMac sales, and thinks the situation will reverse with forthcoming revenue from last summer's refreshed Mac line.

Quicken 2001 comes to the Mac

Quicken 2001 for the Mac, from Intuit http://www.intuit.com is now available. It offers a variety of new features designed to save time, streamline finance organization, manage investments, and do financial planning. The update also integrates more closely with Intuit's Quicken.com financial Web site. The suggested retail price is $59.95 after a $20 rebate for previous Quicken users.

Mac finds its voice

MacSpeech http://www.macspeech.com/ is beginning to roll out its long-planned Mac-only voice-recognition software. Already available, ListenDo! lets you control computer applications by using voice commands. Coming soon is a plug-in that will provide voice control of Microsoft Office 2001 for the Mac. On the way, iListen lets you dictate into most applications and have command and control over the Mac OS and most programs. -Dennis Sellers