The latest version of Microsoft's Windows operating system offers a
way in to 64-bit computing and Web services. But should your
company be using it? And, if so, what are the issues you will have
to contend with? Neil Fawcett has the answers.
Windows XP is both a possible route to 64-bit computing and Web
services, but it has given rise to gags about Microsoft using it to
just generate eXtra Profit. The question for users is whether this
operating system is something to work with, avoid, or wait on.
The best way to answer this dilemma is to coolly look at what XP
has to offer, and evaluate whether it should be included in your IT
strategy.
In the operating system hierarchy Windows XP is the latest
generation of 32-bit operating systems from Microsoft. Different
flavours serve consumer users, business desktop users, users
connected to servers, line-of-business applications which run
entire companies, and users of powerful workstations.
XP replaces the Windows 2000 family of operating systems, except
for the very high-end Windows 2000 Datacenter Server (see page 18)
and sounds the death knell for Windows 95 and 98 and the ill-fated
Windows Millennium. One point worth mentioning is that the
difference between XP Home and XP Professional is negligible, with
the home edition basically the business edition with several
features crippled.
The exciting bit is that XP now brings the code base of all
operating systems into sync with each other, which means the
troubled 9.x code base of old (as in 95, 98 etc) is hopefully now
dead and has been sent off to join good old Dos.
"Bringing the code base in line is a sensible move for Microsoft
and customers," explains Neil Laver, Windows product marketing
manager at Microsoft UK. "If you think about it, and given our
support of older platforms, customers using a 9.x operating system
should really be looking to move to Windows XP, or at the least
Windows 2000."
The simple point that Laver is making is that time moves on, and so
does technology, so it really is time to ditch 9.x and its
hereditary ties to MS-Dos.
Note that even though we are just about to get Windows XP, more
upgrades are already being planned. So it is something of a moving
target, and any purchase of this technology should be preceded by a
lengthy period of not only technology evaluation but an
investigation of Microsoft's plans, some of which are available,
others are veiled in secrecy.
Windows XP is the operating system that takes Microsoft properly
into the 64-bit arena, albeit several years after it dabbled with
Windows NT on the Digital Alpha 64-bit processor. This will take
place on the workstation, where the likes of computer-aided design
and scientific modelling will take place, and at the server, where
64-bit means more performance. Staggeringly improved memory
bandwidth will enable new breeds of enterprise applications to be
deployed on Microsoft platforms.
This is also the operating system that will work hand-in-hand with
Intel's Itanium processor and its successors. In response to early
user demand, Microsoft has produced a pre-release edition of 64-bit
Windows XP, called Windows Advanced Server Limited Edition, for
64-bit Itanium servers.
However, the relatively high cost of Itanium systems and
requirements for commercial software will continue to make 32-bit
the dominant architecture until about 2006, but 64-bit will grow as
a proportion of enterprise servers over time, driven by the
declining cost of hardware.
All well and good. But the question is not so much whether
Microsoft offers the right way to get to 64-bit computing but
whether 64-bit itself is a good idea right now. Influential analyst
firm Gartner has warned companies to exercise caution in deploying
64-bit Windows until the following things happen:
- It no longer appears in a "limited edition"
- Key applications are changed to exploit 64-bit computing. If
this is not done, applications running in 32-bit mode on Itanium
systems will suffer a performance penalty
- Sufficient references for critical applications
appear.
The other puzzle is Microsoft's product roadmap. Several variants
of XP are on the way, each bringing new technologies that are all
integral to the evolution of Microsoft's .net platform and
therefore central to any online world that Microsoft will promote
in the future.
Microsoft has bet its future on XML as the method of blowing wide
open the issue of data portability and, in turn, application
interoperability. As a result, any company that buys into
Microsoft's vision of the future must buy into XML. This means that
software such as Windows XP - on the desktop and server - will act
as the foundation layer for XML and therefore will become an
inevitable purchase for companies around the world.
However, Laver says, "This [Windows XP] is not the be all and end
all with XML. It is a good starting point, but the Windows .net
operating system will bring XML fully to the desktop." As yet no
date has been set for Windows .net, which is the version of Windows
that fully supports and endorses the Microsoft vision of Web-based
software through what it calls the .net Architecture.
So be aware that buying XP means a lot more than just implementing
a new operating system. The decision issues around XP are not the
individual features and functions of the operating system but what
it represents: a way into both 64-bit computing and Web services.
The decision then is whether you want to adopt Microsoft's version
of both these technologies - and that is a political question for
you as an organisation.
Time seems to be the key reason why XP should fit into a company's
IT strategy. If you use Windows as your operating system of choice,
have bought into the Windows and Intel platform, but still use an
older operating system, such as Windows 95, 98 or NT4, then it is
time to move on.
XP, or at the very least Windows 2000, is the logical step to take
for improved application use, but it will inevitably throw up a
whole bunch of hardware and application upgrade issues.