 The magazine of the Melbourne PC User Group Windows 95 previewed Ash Nallawalla ash@melbpc.org.au |
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Windows 95 (Win95) is expected to be on the shelves later this month. These are my initial impressions of the Final Beta of Win95 (Build 347 or Preview Edition) and these comments might not apply to the Release Candidate 1 (Build 490) release, which I have yet to see, or the shipped version. I also mention some of the early Win95 programs you can expect soon.
Initial impressions
Win95 is available on floppy disks or CD-ROM and I chose the latter. I installed it over my existing Windows 3.1 files instead of trying a dual-boot setup. Quick and painless! Around 30 minutes, not the "several hours" some people have reported. Of course, I refer to a stand-alone PC devoid of any network. This contrasts with my first attempt to load OS/2 Warp, which did not have my CD-ROM drive in its repertoire and would have stumped an inexperienced user. There was no culture shock here. The executive summary for non-OS/2 users is: buy it!
At this point I should make it clear that there is no competition technically between OS/2 and Windows 95. That honour is reserved for Windows NT, which I have not used, so you should seek an in-depth review in a larger publication for details. The reason why that unfair comparison is often made is because OS/2 is marketed at all levels of the market whereas NT is aimed at MIS managers. An American columnist has speculated that Windows 95 is the smoke screen for the NT trump card.
What is Windows 95?
Win95 is a multitasking, multithreaded operating system and what we know as MS-DOS is part of it. To benefit from this 32-bit operating system you will need 32-bit software. Your 16-bit programs will probably work well for some time, but could bring down the whole computer should they hang.
User interface
Forget Program Manager and get used to the new desktop. Subdirectories are now folders, so your Macintosh friends will be able to understand you better. The taskbar at the bottom of the screen can now be moved to the top should you wish to be more Mac-like. OS/2 users call it the launch pad. The Borland-pioneered right mouse button property inspector is found everywhere, including Win95. Does this make it a WOOOS (Windows object oriented operating system)? This functionality makes it very easy to edit settings, and many of these tasks have Wizards. The help system frequently displays buttons that you click to get to your desired task. Your file names can be up to 255 characters. You can create shortcuts, which are icons that contain multiple keystrokes.
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Communications
I need more time with the Microsoft Network before I can appreciate it properly. My initial feeling is that either Microsoft has something fantastic and is not giving away too much or its secrets are well hidden. Perhaps it will all fall into place when the Microsoft low-earth-orbiting satellites are up there. The Internet: forget your Trumpet Winsock, for the built-in PPP support drives Netscape 32 very fast. Some of the included applets are very comprehensive; the fax program and its broadcast ability impressed me, particularly when failed faxes were brought to my attention in a mail message. One click of a button and they were retransmitted.
Compatibility
So far I found (in my collection) only three programs that were unusable or partly usable.
ABC FlowCharter 2.0 would not run at all, but the later ABC SnapGraphics 2.0 did.
CorelDRAW! 5.0E2 was the only program that warned me of a possible problem without being specific. Its export functions other than GIF are dead. The drawing functions seem to work well.
Corel Ventura 4.2 works (this article is being produced with it) but the printed area goes off the page, so proofing is impossible.
I use Microsoft Office 4.3, which includes Winword 6.0c and that seems to work well in every function I use.
Winword 6.0a had some incompatibility that I cannot remember but was annoying enough to complain via CompuServe.
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Should you upgrade?
If you are a personal user, yes, because it is fun and sooner or later your software will force you to do so. I think I used to say that my 64 KB CP/M
Microbee and Wordstar 2.2 were all I ever needed of a computer but then I used to be very happy with my 20 MB hard disk a few years later.
If you are a corporate manager, it is going to be expensive and complex; perhaps it is time to make that "OS/2 or NT" decision? The new third-party software is mostly on CD-ROMs and each devours almost 50-100 MB, so anticipate 1 GB hard disk purchases along with 16 MB or more of memory for everyone. Plug-and-Play hardware will trickle through slowly and will compete for your budget. Your users will conspire to find a hundred reasons why you must upgrade.
Although beginners will take to Win95 very well, Windows 3.1 users might have a long learning path, depending on how much they want to know. After a month of daily use I still feel that there is much to learn. Training companies will do well.
Microsoft has anticipated this with a very comprehensive Migration Planning Kit (at least on this beta), which comes complete with PowerPoint slides and speaker's notes.
The beta Windows Resource Kit is also most comprehensive and one could spend days reading it all.
Norton Utilities
Norton Utilities for Windows 95 (NU95) was announced recently as a "must have" preinstallation toolkit for Win95. No argument; NU is a "must buy" at the best of times. Through some twist of fate, its
Preview edition works fine with my Build 347, but I am told that it must be uninstalled prior to installing Build 490.
Disk Doctor has already rescued me following one mains-failure related disk crash, so who will "rescue" me between now and 24 August? Time for a backup.
Nevertheless, many of the applets in Win95 are 16-bit, such as ScanDisk and
Defrag, and some tools from previous editions, such as an antiviral, are missing. Files deleted from a Win95 DOS window are not saved in the Trashcan. NU95 addresses all these and then some. While repair tools such as
Disk Doctor are familiar to many of us, they have been "humanised" by making the operation less scary to the novice user. It can even play music while it repairs your disk. The
Space Wizard finds dupes, backup files, old files, etc, and even lets you move a swap file to the start of a disk.
Micrografx Picture Publisher
Micrografx products have been faring well and you can expect Picture Publisher for Windows 95 to be one of its early Win95 offerings. I used it to touch up some unusual PCX files for this issue that Corel PhotoPaint or Windows Paint couldn't fix.
Conclusion
I am very impressed by Win95 overall and find it easier to do my work with it thanks to its new user interface.
Reprinted from the August 1995 issue of PC Update, the magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia
