THREE YEARS OF HYPE and promises. That's what Microsoft has lavished on Windows 95, the first major revision of its PC operating system since Windows 3.0 shipped in 1990. It all comes to fruition on August 24: On that day, Microsoft boosters claim, Windows-based PCs will have closed the usability gap that was once the Mac's biggest asset.
Microsoft will have spent close to $200 million promoting its new OS and will have seeded more than 40,000 beta testers with the software. In this sea of Windows hype, many people wonder if the Mac can stay afloat. Does Windows 95 mark the death knell for the Mac, as many PC cynics believe, or is Microsoft only now starting to catch up with advantages the Mac has had since the mid-80s?
From a business standpoint, Microsoft's barrage of "advance looks" at Windows 95 has certainly kept some corporations from buying Macs. Although Mac sales are still on the upswing, they're not growing as quickly as sales in the computer industry as a whole. Windows 95 has forced Apple to abandon its strategy of increasing its market share to 25 percent and instead to focus on the installed base of Mac users.
Drawbacks. But Windows 95 is not without its detractors. PC Magazine recently reported that Windows 95 can have serious limitations when combined with 32-bit applications, because it maintains compatibility with current 16-bit applications. Many of the benefits of running 32-bit applications, such as preemptive multitasking, won't be available to Windows 95 users until they've upgraded their existing 16-bit applications. Preemptive multitasking is a feature Mac users will see in Apple's Copland operating system next year.
After using our prerelease copy of Windows 95, we're convinced that the new version offers a big interface gain over Windows 3.11. It's now easier for PC users to manage files, print, and use their office network. At first glance, the new interface has many of the trappings of the Mac OS, with such Mac phrases as "Shut down" and "It's now safe to turn off your computer." A closer look reveals that Windows 95 is more like OS/2 (with some Windows 3.1 tossed in) than the Mac OS. However, the Windows 95 interface is distinctive enough that neither Windows 3.11 users nor Mac users will be able to switch to Windows 95 without some retraining.
Better Than the Mac? For Mac users, there is no compelling reason to switch to Windows 95. Microsoft's Plug and Play technology makes installing hardware on a PC easier than it was before, but the Mac is still easier to set up, use, and maintain.
To counter Microsoft's ad blitz -- and send its own message about the Mac OS -- Apple has announced a promotional campaign called Windows 95 Assault. But as soon as Microsoft's media machine dies down and Apple really starts showing off Copland, it'll be time for Microsoft to start the hype-and-promise program for its next operating system, Cairo (said to be like Windows NT with a Windows 95 interface). The OS wars never end.
