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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 22, 1995)
Windows 95: Truth missing from hype Windows 95, Microsoft's new operating system for Intel-based PCs. was unveiled Aug 24 amidst a mi ted din of fanfares and jeers Ever since Mi< roaoft announced its development of the new test incarnation of Win dows (then (ode-named "Clhica go"). the media, competition and public had been abuzz with sjasillation, praise and intii ism Despite Microsoft's impressive 1’R campaign surrounding Win dows 95, there is still a bewil dering array of information luring spewed at potential buy ers some accurate, some false and some halfway in between With all the positive and neg ative propaganda circulating, many software consumers don't have a completely ac curate understanding of Windows 95, its benefits or its drawbacks Even on the Internet, a former bastion of technical savvy, peo ple frequently exchange com plete falsehoods about Win dows 95 as if they were common knowledge Here are some of the myths about Win dovvs 95, accompanied by a dose of reality: Windows 95 runs on top of DOS, just like Windows 3.1. False. Windows 95 is a com pletely stand-alone operating system and has direct control of the computer's hardware Win dows 3.1 relied on IX)S as an interface between itself and the system hardware. One message by an adamant Usenet reader about Window s 95 s multitasking capabilities proclaimed that all one had to do was look on the Ihix to see that Windows 95 is a "preempted" operating system, clearly mean ing that it runs on top of DOS. The term I believe Mr. Wizard was groping for is preemptive multitasking. It means that Win dows 95 can run multiple pro grams simultaneously while maintaining absolute authority over the time and resources allo cated to each process The result is significantly smoother opera IALOO« tit o imiiT ■ iMUNomu, on wimksmt, mrin % 0 The Mill Canip % invites you to , j celebrate our * 3W> Annivesary! * TraditionalV ) Wednesday ' < Mirink Specials 4 Pips 2Sc Appellors ^ PRIZES^ . I GIVEAWAYS! DANCE CONTEST! L MUSIC TRIVIA Cfc CONTEST! % ^ Hosted by KDUK (iursi A|>|K*aranc v by AM l)J John Millindcr FOR INFO CALL 747-0577 MOVAM HIOOUCTlOH% co mm lion when multi pit' applications are running This is possibly thi* most important new feature Window's 05 has to offer Its predtsevsof. Windows i l. relied on the individual programs to relinquish i otitrol to other pro esses Remember w hat it w as like under Windows i t trying to print a pn|>er in the txu Aground while transferring a file via modem' The two processes would fight for the computer's resources at the expense of what ever else you wanted to do. Win dows 95'* 1^-hit preemptive mul titasking makes this feat noticeably smoother even w hen many such tasks are vying for the (PI J's attention Microsoft is plotting an <*vtl scheme to steal private data from users and eventually com mand the world's computers. The sc ary thing is that people believe this one Windows 95 iinei the Microsoft Network pro vide an option to send system information (processor type, video card, CD-ROM. etc ) along with on-line registration of the software Conspiracy theorists shriek that it s possible to send confi dential information stored on the hard drive during that process. It s also possible that Windows 95 contains n secret Trojan horse whu h 'in |an 1. 1‘ea. w ill !i>r mat the world's hard drives and cause their modems to call the President, demanding that Hill Gates lie named “White House Adv isor on Nerds " Some people have too muc h time on their hands Windows 95 crashes every 10 minutes. Actually, Windows 95 is quite stable — more so than Windows 3.1 hut less than Window s NT Windows 95 is especially good at handling misliehaving 32-bit applications. Instead of c rashing the whole sy stem, programs that go haywire are smoothly killed, ami an informative notice is dts played to the user Mai OS is bettrr Nvah Windows 95 ( ould be MAI, 9<XM) ami there would still lie those who worshiped the Mai intoah HAL it isn't, hut Win dows 95 makes ttetter and more sophisticated use of system resources than MacQS on a similarly configured Mat.in tosh System 7 just doesn't have the same technology. Some prefer the Macintosh interfaie or various other fan lures, for them MacQS is the U'st i hoi< e But Windows 95 is the better multitasker and man agar of system resourt «s' Windows 95 requires a Pen tium i omputer ami at least It! MB of RAM Of course Windows 95 demands more from the com puter than Windows t 1 f11t .is you wouldn't expect to be able to run Windows i i on a 286 with ^ MB of RAM. Windows 95 needs more than the pra< ti (.ii nmumiim under Windows t 1 Computers that [lerformed only tolerably with Windows i 1 will need hardware upgrades before moving to Windows 'IT> Increased fum (tonality requires im reused t ompuitng power liven having said that. Win down 95 runs quite nicely with i medium u onflgura. tion Although Windows 95 requires only a itHfi processor with 4 MB RAM. a fast 4Hf> with HMB should lie considered the practical minimum. At that configuration. Windows <15 runs comfortably as long ns only a few low demand appli cations are run concurrently Users running compute- or memory-intensive applii at ions such as graphics, database or scientific software will need more power and RAM Windows '15 is the best thing to happen to PCs sine e the 0086 processor. Ilmm Maybe Joshua Olson is the on line edi tor for the Kmerald. Ad Correction: The Nov 21 id (of Mwon* should tuve r*4d Curiously Strong" Altoid Mints 99t ea. 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