At its Windows briefing in Redmond yesterday, Microsoft Corp publicly announced the next version of its Windows 95 operating system, code-named Memphis, will be called Windows 98. It’s now out at 10,000-odd beta sites. It will include an integrated Microsoft Internet Explorer browser interface enabling users to seamlessly access information on the web, intranets or their own desktop. A new performance management application, or wizard, will enable users to optimize their PC’s internal hard disk for applications which are used most often. A system file checker will track system changes and help restore the system when it crashes with messages such as illegal operation performed. It’s tuned for the new Universal Serial Bus PC standard. What it would really like is for corporate users to migrate to Windows NT and the higher-revenue technologies it’ll develop for businesses, but recommends Windows 98 as the upgrade route for users that still have 16-bit applications. Microsoft says it will also introduce new installation, configuration, management and self-repair technologies into its bloaty BackOffice suite it claims help meet its stated goal of reducing the total cost of deploying and administering applications by up to 50%. It will also target the software at use of so-called zero administration clients. Microsoft has some new collaboration and natural language processing technologies due for BackOffice.
