Does TerraServer prove that Microsoft has finally mastered the nuances of
enterprise database management? Probably not. Although TerraServer is an
impressive single-system feat, a more impressive demonstration would have been
to deploy SQL Server 7.0 across multiple servers in a clustered
configuration--a scenario more representative of current database architecture
trends. Still, you've got to hand it to the Microsoft SQL Server marketing team
members. They certainly know how to make a statement.
—Craig Barth
AT&T Sues Microsoft Over Contract
What's in a name? If you're AT&T, it could be the future of a
potentially lucrative source code licensing agreement. In a development that
took most of the industry by surprise, the telecommunications giant filed suit
against Microsoft in a US District Court in New Jersey. In the complaint, AT&T
claims breach of contract and intentional interference with AT&T's
prospective business advantage.
At stake is a source code license for Windows NT. AT&T and Microsoft
negotiated the backroom licensing deal in 1991 and renewed the relationship in
1994. Microsoft is now trying to revoke it. AT&T uses the source code in its
Advanced Server for UNIX, which AT&T claims is an important tool for
integrating Windows and UNIX. Many UNIX vendors resell Advanced Server for UNIX
under a different name as a component of their various UNIX offerings.
However, nearly all the current Advanced Server for UNIX resellers--Data
General, Digital Equipment, Groupe Bull, HP, ICL, NCR, and Siemens Nixdorf
Informationssysteme AG--are also Microsoft enterprise partners, obviating
the need for Advanced Server for UNIX in many cases.
In the suit, AT&T is seeking current builds of the NT source code and
an unspecified amount for compensatory and punitive damages. AT&T might have
a legitimate claim. According to sources close to the company, AT&T is
challenging Microsoft based on AT&T's interpretation of language within the
original contract. Microsoft apparently agreed to provide access to source code
for NT 3.x, for NT 4.x, and for "Cairo, a future version of Windows NT."
AT&T will argue that Cairo is synonymous with NT 5.0 and that Microsoft
knew it was agreeing to license the NT 5.0 platform as part of the overall
contract. Microsoft will likely counter that the contract did not define Cairo
and that Microsoft uses Cairo as blanket term to describe a variety of
technologies, not a specific product.
You can expect lots of expert testimony from industry insiders who will
testify for and against the Cairo-as-NT-5.0 connection. L.A. Law it
isn't, but at least those Microsoft legal eagles won't go hungry.
—Craig Barth
Microsoft Pushes NT Workstation 4.0
In a bid to keep the upgrade sales flowing, Microsoft outlined
recommendations regarding client operating system (OS) migration of Windows NT
5.0. Not surprisingly, the company has come out against widespread corporate
adoption of Windows 98 and is instead advocating NT Workstation 4.0 as the best
short-term migration path. Microsoft's logic behind this recommendation is that
Win98's Registry is sufficiently different from that of NT so that a seamless
upgrade to NT 5.0 might not be possible from Win98. Microsoft is therefore
recommending that customers bite the bullet and start migrating workstations to
NT 4.0. By beginning the migration to NT Workstation, organizations will be
better prepared to upgrade directly to NT 5.0, according to Microsoft.
Microsoft's newfound interest in promoting NT 4.0 as a client OS will no
doubt strike many in the NT user community as ironic. NT Workstation users have
long taken a back seat to Win9x users in terms of public endorsement by
Microsoft. With Microsoft now declaring NT 4.0 as the platform of choice for
customers seeking the next step beyond DOS and Windows 3.x, many of these users
no doubt feel vindicated, if not prescient.
Of course, Registry conflicts aren't the only points of concern in a
Win98-to-NT 5.0 migration. As veteran NT deployment technicians will attest,
subtle nuances at the hardware level can make or break an NT installation.
Nuances such as bus timing and BIOS shadowing and caching can make installing NT
onto a legacy Pentium-class PC a challenge. These nuances also make the task of
qualifying NT 5.0-compatible hardware much more important. For example, just
because a device says Plug and Play (PnP) on the box doesn't mean that it will
work under NT 5.0. New software and hardware technologies, such as the Windows
Driver Model (WDM) and Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI), are
necessary before NT 5.0 can strut its autoconfiguration stuff. NT 5.0 will likely better support those devices that qualify and have supporting drivers under NT 4.0 than those devices that are currently NT-hostile.
—Craig Barth
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