NT 4.0 Strikes Home
With the release of version 4.0 this month, Windows NT reaches maturity as the strategic operating system for enterprise computing. Both NT 4.0 Server and Work-
station include a host of new features aimed at usability and user friendliness, functionality, performance (NT 4.0 seems to be at least as fast as 3.51; scaleability performance is up to 33% better), and integrated services.
The new Explorer GUI comes to NT from Windows 95 with NT-specific enhancements, such as NT Diagnostics, the Task Manager, and Performance Monitor (User Manager is unchanged). The interface functions like the Win95 Explorer, with which it shares a paradigm for viewing network resources, local system objects, files, properties and settings, and the Internet.
The following list summarizes the architectural and organizational changes for NT 4.0.
* Distributed Component Object Modeling (DCOM, formerly Network Object Linking and Embedding--OLE)
* The User (I/O services, etc.) and Graphical Display Interface (GDI) components, which are now kernel-mode functions, are smaller, and are in the NT Executive for enhanced system performance
* Telephony API (TAPI), which provides enhanced communications with voice, data, fax modems
* The DirectX APIs (DirectDraw, DirectSound, DirectPlay, DirectInput, with ActiveMovie), which allow faster 2D graphics (support for hardware acceleration is through DirectDraw), .avi file playback, gameplay, and better sound and support for improved OpenGL performance
* Cryptography API (CAPI)
* Improved driver support, such as Unimodem (universal modem types) and display drivers, and more drivers for proprietary hardware (MPEG decoders, sound cards, etc.)
* Improved Pentium Pro support
* Enhanced Remote Access Service (RAS): autodial (automatically initiates a connection if you request a network resource that you aren't connected to), multilink (supports multiple simultaneous connections with multiple modems), dial-up networking service (dial-up authorization at login for remote con-
nections), and routing (a RAS server as an Internet gateway with Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol--PPTP)
* Enhanced NetWare services, including a NetWare Directory Service (NDS) client and NetWare 4 login scripts
* Hardware profiles for using multiple configurations (at home, in the office, on the road)
* Enhanced metafile spooling: print rasterization is now offloaded to the print server, instead of being processed on the workstation
* Full 486 enhanced-mode emulation for RISC-based systems
* Improved multitasking and separate memory spaces for 16-bit DOS and Windows 3.x applications
* New services: Universal Exchange Inbox, multimedia viewers (with the QuickView utility for MS Office file types), My Briefcase for remote file synchronization, CD Autoplay (automatic load and play for audio and data CDs), and Autorun (type in any file, command, universal resource locatorURLor executable from the Run dialog to launch the appropriate application, including launching RAS for access to Internet or LAN resources)
* Improved reliability and performance, with enhanced support for symmetrical multiprocessing (SMP)
* Internet Information Server (IIS) 2.0 and integrated Domain Name System (DNS) server (with Windows Internet Name Service--WINS) as part of server; Peer Web Services for Internet and intranet deployment with workstation; Internet Explorer 2.0 (soon to be IE 3.0) is free as part of both Server and Workstation
* Multi-Protocol Routing (MPR) with Server
* Updated control panel items for multimedia, display, etc. (You can now change display settings without rebooting.)
* Win95 Plus! Pack
Windows NT Tsunami
A tsunami is one of the most unpredictable and powerful forces on earth. The success of Windows NT has not come as a huge surprise, but the magnitude of its widespread adoption as an enterprise desktop system attests to its tsunami-like power. On a recent customer swing around the US, I visited several Wall Street financial concerns, state government agencies, utilities, petrochemical companies, and a pharmaceutical company. Most organizations I visited are buying and upgrading hardware, preparing strategic plans to implement an NT desktop environment.
What I observed represents a significant shift in enterprise computing trends:
* A major move from Windows and OS/2 to Windows NT desktops
* Windows NT servers replacing OS/2 and Novell file and print servers
* Widespread adoption of Microsoft Exchange as an enterprise standard for electronic mail
* Windows NT servers with multiuser capability (Citrix) distributing Windows and NT applications to Macintosh, Unix workstations, and X terminals
Expectations and Surprises
Some of this information did not come as a surprise. However, the speed at which the NT tsunami is traveling is well beyond my expectations.
I expected to see enterprises transitioning from Windows to NT on the desktop but was surprised that many had already done so. Several organizations recently had completed pilot studies and were about to implement NT Server as a replacement for IBM OS/2 LAN server and Novell file, print, and application servers.
Unix and NT
Is Unix on the desktop dead? Probably not, but the cost of ownership, ease of administration, price/performance, and a familiar GUI are just some motivations compelling organizations to adopt an enterprisewide NT desktop system. NT is now running many traditional desktop Unix applications. This development makes the future proliferation of Unix workstations questionable--at least as an enterprisewide desktop system.
Although the Unix workstation market enjoyed a strong fourth quarter last year, shipping approximately 216,000 units (800,000 units shipped during 1994), the future is not bright--especially if you consider future NT application availability and the price/performance of an Intel P6 at 200+MHz. Out of this equation emerges a powerful 32-bit enterprise-desktop solution at a fraction of a Unix workstation's cost. (For more information about NT vs. Unix, see Joel Sloss, "Top Engineering Solution Providers," Windows NT Magazine, July 1996, and Stewart McKie, "Market Analysis: NT's Impact on Enterprise Accounting Software," Windows NT Magazine, June 1996.)
In contrast, I found little evidence to suggest that NT was replacing midsized to large Unix application and database servers. In addition to a large hardware investment, organizations have a vested interest in maintaining their homegrown Unix and X Windows applications, many of which provide access to mission-
critical databases. Apparently, NT Server has a way to go before affecting Unix application servers.
Applications
A dearth of native NT applications and integration solutions still remains, and there lies an opportunity. A huge market is developing not only for shrinkwrapped NT applications but also for enterprise middleware, network connectivity applications (32-bit TCP/IP application suites), and NT to Unix integration solutions based on Network File System (NFS) and X Windows standards.
NT users are accustomed to high-performance applications that enable seamless access to enterprisewide applications and information. When I asked several users for their first three purchasing criteria for NT applications, their answers were performance, performance, performance. Their next consideration for purchasing was transparent integration within the NT environment. And these users mean native NT applications, not kludgy ones ported from Windows 3.1. Interestingly, my contacts rarely mentioned price.
In the Tsunami's Wake
NT is much more than Workstation and Server. It's quickly becoming one of the most powerful, productive, and cost-effective computing platforms of all time. And in the wake of the tsunami, software and hardware developers will discover a new tide of opportunities. Users will benefit from the deluge of applications and technology enhancements, including 3D icons and interfaces and 3D applications previously restricted to RISC-based computers. Desktop users will benefit from productivity gains offered by a 32-bit, multitasking operating system and the stability of the NT platform in a networked environment. Most important, as the browser evolves to become a desktop metaphor, the NT platform will pioneer the next era of the computer-user interface.
MIPS and NT Divorce
The struggling marriage of MIPS and Windows NT is nearing the end--MIPS has filed for divorce. MIPS has less than 1% of the NT systems market, and according to MIPS spokesman Steve Schick, no vendors are now selling MIPS-based systems for NT in North America. In fact, the only MIPS-based systems available for NT are from Siemens Nixdorf in Europe and NEC in Japan.
The courtship of NT and MIPS began when NT's chief architect, Dave Cutler, determined that NT would run on RISC-based systems in addition to Intel. In NT's early days, Cutler developed and tested NT on a MIPS-based system. The relationship continued as NEC, Tandem, NetPower, and others made MIPS-based systems and started attracting independent software vendors (ISVs) to port native NT applications to MIPS. In those early days, MIPS had a performance advantage over Intel-based systems and built its story around it.
Unfortunately, the business case for MIPS with hardware and software vendors wasn't ideal. First, MIPS is a wholly owned subsidiary of Silicon Graphics (SGI). SGI views NT as competition, so it has done little to attract ISVs to port NT applications to MIPS. According to MIPS, overcoming Intel's lock on the ISV community would have required 10 times the effort the company put into it, and success would still have been uncertain. In retrospect, MIPS-based system vendors did a poor job of marketing NT's strengths on MIPS: Intel is the standard, Alpha is the fastest, PowerPC crosses platforms (NT, Mac OS, Sun Solaris, AIX), and MIPS is, well, the system that Dave Cutler developed NT on.
Despite the lack of success with NT, MIPS claims to have shipped more chips than all other RISC chips combined. The reason lies in MIPS-based products such as Sony PlayStation, Nintendo 64, Network Computers (NCs), and digital video discs (DVD). SGI successfully uses its MIPS-based systems to position the company in the high end of the Unix market. Reports are that the new MIPS R10000 chip (in beta) is the fastest chip in the world, surpassing Digital Equipment's Alpha. Unfortunately, this chip comes too late for NT.
What About Users?
Will Microsoft sign the divorce papers? Two questions remain. First, will Siemens Nixdorf and NEC Japan generate enough volume for Microsoft to continue supporting NT on MIPS? Microsoft says it "continues to offer Windows NT Server and Workstation, including the upcoming release of Windows NT 4.0, and BackOffice applications on x86, Alpha, PPC, and MIPS platforms." Second, how long will MIPS/NT users need to migrate off their current machines? So far, Microsoft has not commented on this concern.
What does this development mean to anyone who owns a MIPS-based system? For this magazine's part, since our first issue, Windows NT Magazine has included a graphic with each software review to show whether reviewed products have native support for Intel, Alpha, MIPS, or PowerPC. You will still find this "chip scale," and we will support MIPS editorial as long as NT continues to support MIPS. As for vendors, NetPower, the first supplier of MIPS-based systems for NT, will continue to support its MIPS-based systems for five years from the purchase date. The company also provides financial incentives for customers to migrate to NetPower's new Intel-based systems.
"The response from our customers has been positive," says Linda Hargrove, NetPower's VP of marketing. "We provide a performance upgrade path that secures applications and custom configurations and provides the best NT support available. We will do whatever we can to ensure that our MIPS customers continue to get the most from their systems throughout the life of those systems."
Many NetPower customers were early adopters of NT who were taking a risk with NT and MIPS back in 1993. NT turned out to be a worthy risk--MIPS did not.
So is RISC too risky (couldn't resist)? First, PowerPC and Alpha have already generated more interest in the ISV community than MIPS ever did. Next, Digital's FX!32 reduces the risk considerably by letting Alpha customers run any native NT application. Microsoft intends to add a similar feature for PowerPC-based systems. Still, Intel's market share is huge. The Alpha and PowerPC vendor community will need to build a strong business case, marketing strategy, and solid partnerships in order to have any impact in this market. At the same time, competition from RISC vendors is essential to keeping Intel motivated to win the hearts of the NT community by continually innovating. Let's hope PowerPC and Alpha learn from MIPS and prevent another NT divorce.
NT Professionals Conference
The first Windows NT Magazine Professionals Conference concluded on August 2, 1996, in Denver, Colorado. The theme of this conference series is how to administer your Windows NT system and NT applications. Speakers included Windows NT Magazine columnists, technical editors, and regular contributors, Bob Chronister, John Enck, Mark Minasi, Spyros Sakellariadis, and Ed Tittel. Other NT experts from the Denver area participated, and national and global enterprises such as FHP and US West from Denver and Texas Instruments from Dallas presented solutions based on their NT implementations. Microsoft also presented several prominent sessions.
IBM cosponsored the conference and presented several sessions. In a keynote, Garry Norris, director of software strategy and strategic relations for the IBM Personal Computer Company said that IBM's relationship with Microsoft had changed a lot in the past eighteen months. IBM will provide and support NT on its systems and is working closely with Microsoft on NT projects. IBM even wrote some code that is part of NT, and Norris quoted Dataquest findings that by 1997, the operating systems on worldwide shipments of IBM PC Company's Intel and RISC systems will be 63% Windows 95 and 24% NT.
The successful Denver event was version 1.0 of Windows NT Magazine's Windows NT Professionals Conference series. The next conference will be in Washington, DC, September 4 through 6, 1996. The complete 1997 schedule and locations for these conferences will be available this fall. You can email Dennis Martin, conference manager, Windows NT Magazine, at [email protected], or check the Web site at www.winntmag.com.
