CompuServe Messages

Hi Don. I'd like to correct a couple of details you posted: >Chicago, a.k.a. Windows 4.0, is essentially Windows for Workgroups >with a new user interface: a notebook metaphor much like the Mac >has been forever. While Chicago definitely looks like a Mac, it's definitely NOT simply Win for WG with a new UI. Chicago contains the full WIN32 API and does NOT require MS-DOS underneath although of course, users can still run DOS programs. Chicago is multi-threaded, pre-emptive, 32 bit, flat memory, etc, etc. It's a BIG step for Microsoft. In many ways it was harder to do than NT because they wanted it to fit in machines with 4MB of RAM so that 386 and low end 486 machines would have a place to upgrade to, plus they had to deal with DOS application AND DRIVER compatibility (no small feat). Chicago has been very tightly coded (due to memory constraints) unlike NT 3.1 (the current shipping version) which was largely coded in C for portability but which ballooned the memory requirements. Daytona is an "optimized" version of NT, as I mentioned before. >Trust me, Motorola tried very,very hard to make that happen for the PowerPC. I believe it! The single biggest thing that will hold back the PowerPC is the lack of a Microsoft OS. Apparently they'll get NT eventually, but that's too big for the masses at this point in time (eventually it wont be of course). The new Mac PowerPC machines are still wonderful of course, so the PowerPC will do just fine. >[Windows NT] features true peer-to-peer networking … It's a lot more than that of course, with the the NT AS (Advanced Server) version. Domains, trust groups, global administration, etc, etc. >Cairo, due sometime in 1995, but more likely in early 1996, will spell >the end of Windows/DOS as we know it. I think you're a little off on this one. Cairo is the BIG successor to NT, not Windows/DOS. It now seems clear that Cairo will be NT with the Chicago UI and other goodies. Cairo won't be for the masses. Upgrades to Chicago will be. Obviously everything migrates down eventually, but the 50 million 486 machines out there won't be trashed that quickly and won't be able to run Cairo (it will be too huge). Maybe this is where you and I disagree on where the industry is going, vis-a-vis how much of Intel's marketshare will be eroded. Like them or not, I think they will still be HUGE 3 years from now. >1. NT with its flat memory model, preemptive multitasking, multithreading, Chicago has all these things. >multi-platform support and multiprocessor support gets early adopters moving; >2. Chicago, or what will commercially be Windows 4.0, will introduce a new user >interface, then; 3. Cairo, or what will be known as Windows NT 4.0, combines the >rich feature set of Windows NT with the notebook metaphor of Chicago. By then, >memory will be much cheaper, hard drives will be under 50 cents per megabyte >and processors will have the peformance capabilities to manage this complex >combination of features and ease-of-use. We agree on this. Cairo will be a) COOL, and b) multi-platform. The thing to realize though (which Microsoft has) is that almost NO existing machines will be able to run it. They've even seen this with NT. In the mainstream, NT right now is good for servers and that's it. Certainly the MIPS and Alpha versions are VERY important for MIPS and DEC, but they're MINISCULE players right now. I personally REALLY want them to become HUGE, but that's a long way off. Paul.