Windows ME

As with all such incremental upgrades, it's of less interest to current Windows 98 SE users than it is for some of the many Windows 95 OSR2 users. For the 95 community, I think there's enough in here to be worthy of an upgrade purchase. By any measure, the SE to ME upgrade isn't worth anything more than the cost of the materials and a contribution to postage and packing. After all, the key visible components are, or will be, available for free download from the Internet - I can't believe that Microsoft will lock out the existing 9x community from downloading the Media Player and IE 5.5 products for free.

I accept that I've skipped over some underlying changes like the Windows File Protection system, whereby you can ensure that key operating system files aren't accidentally overwritten by older versions. It's a good capability, but a classic example of the creation of a 'technology' to fix a core problem that should never have arisen in the first place. The removal of the ability to make a bootable floppy disc is the sort of change that makes me seeth - it's the sort of marketing-over-content decision that will bite end users, and there's no reason for this change. It just breaks older games, disc utilities, BIOS Flash upgrade utilities and so forth. The inclusion of IE 5.5 is welcomed - it's now a solid, reliable and extremely capable browser that has excellent XML capabilities which will be very valuable in the forthcoming '.Net' world. Media Player is excellent too (see p186), and allows all visual and aural media, including Internet-based sources, to be located in one place. It also gives a clue to some of the design ideas that Microsoft is pursuing for future Windows versions.

Unfortunately, that's it. For business users, it's an upgrade to ignore. Corporate policy will have dictated whether you'll move to IE 5.5 or not. Media Player will just be an irritating bauble. Windows File Protection will not really matter because you have control of the Desktop, and a proper backup/restore system in place anyway.

Maybe this really is it - the last in the line that goes back to the earliest primordial soup days of Windows in the 1980s. But like any aged film star, there's still a twinkle in the eye that suggests that she might just be back again for one last farewell concert next year.

Author: Jon Honeyball