Long-Overdue Windows Upgrade Seems Worth Wait.

THEY say that good things come to those who wait, and some good things are finally in store for everyone who has been waiting (and waiting and waiting) for Microsoft's major new upgrade to its high-end operating system.

Windows 2000 is the successor to Windows NT (it was even known for awhile as Windows NT 5.0), and it now has a delivery date: Feb. 17, 2000. It also has price tags.

Current owners of Windows NT can upgrade to Windows 2000 Professional (essentially the desktop version) for $149. Upgrading from Windows 95 or 98 will set you back $219. Software for a 10-client network will run $1,199, and a setup for 25 users will cost $3,999.

Windows 2000 is meant to combine some of the best features of the Windows 98 interface with the power and stability of Windows NT -- and then some. Claims for the new system include the usual pledges of better reliability, ease of use and security, plus better plugand-play support for hardware like printers and digital cameras.

New installation wizards smooth the process of setting up your system, and the Internet Explorer browser is built in. Windows 2000 also offers better support for laptops and has better power-management options to eke more life out of batteries and use less energy generally.

Administrators of Windows 2000 Professional systems can set up time-saving, hands-free installations, and can install identical configurations on several computers at the same time. Some preliminary studies have indicated that it may take awhile for Windows 2000 to pay for itself when you add in all the costs of upgrading, but Windows 2000 should indeed make it easier to maintain your business' systems.

Other features of the new system include usability improvements, such as a simplified Start menu with "smart" features that show your most commonly used applications. There also is a more powerful search engine built into the system itself that allows for searching on your own computer, on a local network, or over the Internet. The system also makes it easier to get remote access to files on other computers (or your own, if you're away) over a network or through the Internet.

Windows 2000 Professional requires at least a 133 MHz Pentium, 64 MB of RAM, and 650 MB on your hard drive. As always, however, the more powerful your hardware, the better. As the letter accompanying Windows 2000's preview program suggests, now might be "a great time to consider buying Windows 2000 Ready PCs."

One of the reasons is that the new system is a whopper. Be prepared to spend some time upgrading. During the upgrade process, the Windows 2000 installer tells you that you may have to wait, and it's not kidding. Installation can take as much as an hour or more.

Windows 2000 is part of Microsoft's ongoing plans to unify the Windows product line. The eventual goal is to retire the code at the heart of Windows 98 and move everyone over to the more robust and powerful Windows NT/2000 line, but that's still a couple of years away. In the meantime, an interim version code-named "Millennium" will serve as another successor to Windows 98 for those who don't want to upgrade to Windows 2000.

Apple upgrades

Apple too has introduced some new features to the Macintosh line that may interest business users.

One is Mac OS 9, which began shipping in October. OS 9's main features are further refinements of Apple's user interface. For instance, each computer can now be configured with the preferences for up to 40 users, which is useful for shared machines.

Tell the computer who you are, and it will use your preferences for everything from the interface's appearance to alert sounds and the amount of memory allocated to different applications.

OS 9 also has a "keychain" that automatically remembers and keeps track of log-in names and passwords for sites that require them, such as online stores and Web-based travel agencies. This may make OS 9 especially useful if you do a lot of Web surfing, research and shopping.

And even if you're not a Mac user, you might want to check out the new Sherlock search tool, which has a variety of innovative features for finding products and good prices while shopping online. If you're trying to get a piece of the e-commerce action, the people you're hoping to sell to may be using features like this before long.

OS 9 also allows you to set a voice password for access to your computer; to encrypt files stored on your hard drive for sending over the Internet (or to make them useless to someone who steals copies of them from your computer); and to access your hard drive remotely through the Internet.

Mac OS 9 retails for $99. You may, however, want to wait for the release of Mac OS X (that's a Roman 10) next year, which will include these features and more.

Another noteworthy Apple innovation is the AirPort wireless networking system. Apple laptops within about 150 feet of a $300 base station can share files with each other or surf the Web if they are equipped with a $100 AirPort card.

This means you can surf the Net wirelessly about as fast as your base station's connection to the Net allows, anywhere within range of the AirPort.

AirPort works through radio, not infrared signals, which means it can go through walls, and the possibilities for unobtrusively getting some work done during slow meetings might make the AirPort pay for itself before long.

Updated converters

If your business runs both Windows and Mac OS computers, you may be interested in the latest versions of two tools for sharing files between platforms.

MacLinkPlus 11 allows Mac users to open most Windows files, and Conversions Plus allows Windows users to do the same with Mac formats.

Many applications -- such as the Microsoft Office suite -- can already read files created for the other platform. Word 98 for the Mac, for instance, can open Word 2000 files, and vice versa. But MacLinkPlus and Conversions Plus also make it possible to open and convert files created by other applications on the same platform. They're also useful when someone sends you an e-mail attachment that you can't open.

Christopher Ott is a freelance technology writer and author of "Global Solutions for Multilingual Applications" (Wiley, 1999).