June 25 now looks to be the set date for Windows 98 to hit the streets, although there’s no official comment from Microsoft Corp. Windows 98, of course, should actually have been out in 1997. And for those who can’t face the all-night lines that formed outside retail stores when Windows 95 was released, Reuters points out that at least one online reseller, Chumbo.com, has already started taking pre-orders from its web site, promising to ship copies out the night before the official release. It’s offering prices of $94.99 for the upgrade version, and $179.99 for the full version, recommending machines with at least 16Mb, 24Mb recommended, 195Mb to 350Mb disk space and at least a 66MHz 486 processor. Microsoft Corp is expected to begin cranking up the hype for the operating system from next month (CI No 3,357). Chumbo’s pricing is just below the rumored pricing of $109 for the upgrade, $209 for the full version that have been circulating, keeping the pricing very much in line with Windows 95 pricing. OEMs, of course, will get the operating system at volume discount. Meanwhile, Microsoft Corp is expected to present its annual update of the standard PC specification at the WinHEC show in Orlando, Florida this week. The minimum requirements demanded by the PC 99 specification are expected to be a 300MHz Pentium II with MMX – or the equivalent -32Mb of system memory, with 64Mb recommended, DVD-ROM in place of a CD-ROM,and PCI slots in place of ISA, InfoWorld hears. Microsoft’s OnNow PC power management specification will also be included. PC 99 is still under discussion, and contributors have until April 6 to comment on the guidelines.
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