September 14 2000, the world awaited with bated breath for the launch of Windows ME. It is fourth in the range of Windows operating systems. Lets take a look at what it has to offer us.
History
Windows 95, which came first, was a significant improvent in terms of user interface and features. Then came Windows 98, which included many components, which Microsoft had released after Win95 such as IE. Then Win 98 SE was the quick Successor. And now we have the ME.
General Thinking
Many think that ME is a hybrid between the 9x range and the Windows NT/2000 range. Windows ME resembles 2000 as far as the looks and the interface is concerned but that is where it ends. When it comes to the underlying technology, it has borrowed nothing from 2000. It has its own set of improvements and has that stability which the 9x range lacked. It has added a few features, removed Real mode DOS support, has a bigger and better driver database with a rewritten TCP/IP stack.
Installation
The install process has not changed much and it is similar to the 99 procedures and has the same sequence even. But it requires less user intervention, but u still have to reboot your system thrice. The installation went on without a hassle.
Hardware Support
When it comes to hardware detection, ME does a great job. In my system it detected every piece of my hardware including my VOODOO card and motherboard. The only problem was that the OpenGL drivers for my card were not installed. Windows ME now has the capability to use the Firewire port, which might replace the USB interface soon. ME claims to support every USB digital imaging devices.
Underlying technology
The Real Mode DOS support has been removed. Now you cannot boot into the safe mode command prompt by pressing F8 at startup. Now extremely old DOS applications wont run anymore on your system. ScanDisk will run in high-resolution Windows mode. The Hibernate option in the shutdown menu will save all the applications being used to the hard disk and the next time u load the system u will find yourself exactly where you left yourself.
Multimedia
This is one area where Microsoft has added a few programs. It comes with Windows Media Player 7.0, the enhanced but slow and freeze prone media player that has a neat interface. The other offering is the Movie Maker. It is a compact Video Editor and Encoder . You can cut clips and paste them to a playlist and create a single video and stuff like that.
Gaming
If you are a game freak like me then u ought to have ME cos it squeezes every frame possible. I tried Quake 2 both in 98 and ME and using the console commands I had a boost of 9 frames per sec in ME. I think this is cos the DOS drivers are not loaded on the memory. The built in collection has been beefed up a bit. U can play board games online on Microsoft’s gaming site.
Internet and Networking
There is the IE 5.5 and the preinstalled MSN messenger and the new version 3.01 of netmeeting. IE 5.5’s print preview option is really great that removes the page backgrounds and image tabs makes the printout readable. Due to the rewritten TCP/IP stack many of the DoS attacks which affected Windows 9x series are no effective anymore.
Extras
Then u have the usual Themes and then the thumbnail preview mode for images. U can also open the zip files without using a third party software as Winzip. It also has a beefed up anywhere help system which feels like a website. This feature is really helpful.
Conclusion
If you are a gamer then rush to the nearest Computer store! If you are buying a new PC, get it preinstalled with ME. If u have Win 98 already then I think there is no need to upgrade as half the enhancements can come for free. And don’t think of using ME on your WIN 95 machine.