"free" upgrade
Meat Vehicle
I previously mentioned in a follow-up post that according to a Wall
Street Journal article, MS would be offering Memphis as a free upgrade
to existing users of win95. The following was posted elsewhere (not by
me) and points to more info both supporting and refuting this claim.
If you are interested follow some of the links below.
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*
*
* WinInfo, the Windows news and information mailing list
*
* by Paul Thurrott
*
*
*
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Memphis delayed until 1998
Microsoft admitted on Monday that Memphis--the code-name for the next
version of Windows 95--may be delayed until 1998. Apparently, the
software
giant began warning hardware manufacturers and ISVs that the new
operating
system would likely ship in 1998, not 1997 as planned.
Here's an interesting twist on the Memphis story I had never heard
before:
according to Frank Michnoff, an analyst at Donaldson, Lufkin &
Jenrette,
Microsoft is expected to give Memphis to existing Windows 95 customers
for
free. I suspect he might be confusing Internet Explorer 4.0 with
Memphis,
but you never know.
Want more information?
Is Memphis Windows 98? (C-Net)
http://www.news.com/News/Item/0,4,9085,00.html
Windows 97 Could Be Delayed (Information Week)
http://techweb.cmp.com/iw/newsflash/nf623/0324_st8.htm
Concern About Windows 95 Update Delay (Bloomberg News)
http://nytsyn.com/live/News3/083_032497_140005_28234.html
Internet Explorer 4.0 making the rounds
According to PC Week, Microsoft released another beta of Internet
Explorer
4.0 last week, only to be inundated with bug reports. Unlike the first
beta, the new version allows testers to download the files to their
computer and install it locally. The previous beta required testers to
install the program over the Internet in a procedure called Active
Setup
that was loudly complained about.
Want more information?
Microsoft ships new IE beta (PC Week)
http://www.pcweek.com/news/0324/24ie.html
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Today's news:
Confirmed: Memphis delayed until 1998
Jonathan Roberts, Windows product manager director at Microsoft
confirmed
today that Memphis--the next major release of Windows 97--will be
delayed
until 1998. However, the company still plans to release a beta version
of
Memphis in July so that users can evaluate its features and provide
valuable feedback. User feedback--and the amount of work needed to
incorporate new features--will determine the actual release date of
the
product.
Microsoft stock slipped dramatically at the news. Contrary to an
analyst's
report yesterday, Microsoft will not be distributing Memphis for free.
Want more information?
Microsoft's Billion-Dollar Blip
http://nytsyn.com/live/News3/084_032597_110012_28044.html
3rDperson
IPL member
key 0xCDE135E1
end attachment
"Let us hear no more of trust in government,
let us bind them with the chains of Constitution!"
Thomas Jefferson
Grant King
It is almost certain that MS will not release Memphis for free. Why would
it? It has spend a great deal of time and money developing Memphis. It is
quite probable that users who purchase Win 95 after a certain date (say, a
few months before the release of Memphis) could get it for free, but
otherwise MS would be losing a substantial amount of income by just giving
it away. Although other MS products (such as Office) are generally
considered to be the bigger profit centers, the operating systems are MS'
bread and butter, and are how MS got its start.
Presumably most of Memphis' sales will come from installations in new
computers, but the retail version has a lot of potential as well. If you
look at retail software sales (such as those posted in PC Magazine), the
upgrade version of Win 95 continues to be in the top 10 (although it
sometimes slips out of that range).
I suspect that talk of a free upgrade is merely wishful thinking, and that
many Win 95 users would be willing to pay the reasonable cost of an OS
upgrade (I presume that Memphis will retail at or below the current Win 95
upgrade prices for users who already own Win 95; as an off-subject aside,
the marketing folks at MS should also strongly consider offering some form
of upgrade pricing so that users of Win 95 could upgrade to NT, since
currently you have to buy the full version and few folks are willing to
shell out $300 for NT4).
--
Grant King
http://www.mindspring.com/~ggking3
For Win 95/NT news check
http://www.mindspring.com/~ggking3/pages/windmill.htm
Gary White
And Memphis has little competition, MacOS and OS/2 so MS will charge.
Only when MS wants to get a foothold or gain market do they give away
anything. Uncle Bill cares about your $ and not you and your computing
experience.
--
Gary White
Michigan, USA
mailto:gar...@usa.net
Waco
On Wed, 02 Apr 1997 06:18:08 GMT, u...@hale-bopp.com (Meat Vehicle)
wrote:
If I may be so bold as to make a comment regarding MS. OS's
until a few months ago I didn't have a clue what OSR2 or MEMPHIS
was until I did some reading about these systems. As it turns out I
downloaded MEMPHIS (build 1387) and got it to run. I won't ever do
that again. The program was on 44 disks and they were ARJ'd.
They could only be run from the hardrive which took up more room
then I could spare. Anyhow I managed to get it to run UNTIL I
discovered that it was NOT compatible with some MICROSOFT
SOFTWARE, go figure. Now I believe they are up to build 1523
and still counting. I have tried to become a beta tester for this
OS but No one seems to know when the official beta cd's are going
to be released for legitimate testing. I am currently running running
OSR2 and love it. I read that microsoft will not ever release OSR2
to the general public , except on new systems built by certain
computer manufactures. As I see it that is a slap in the face for
all the people that waited days on end outside store windows
for the fabled WIN95 to appear (remember that?) Only to be plaqued
with bug after bug patch after patch to fix there screw ups.
There are still millions of these bug infested cd's running , so it
seems to me that if this OSR2 is stable (which it is ) then it should
be released to the general public as an upgrade from RESOURCE 1
to RESOURCE 2. Seems fair to me .
OH yeah. if anyone is interested . try using the " user.dll and the
user32.dll " from memphis in your win95 (windows directory)
to get some of the great enhancements from memphis. you can also use
the logo.sys from memphis in win95 . Don't forget to backup the old
.dll's ........... thats it ....... thanks for listening