Do You Need to Upgrade the Operating System or Applications?

Although Windows 2003 and Windows XP are the newest operating system releases from Microsoft, you still might want to consider upgrading to Windows 2000 first. There are many reasons for this, including the fact that Windows 2000 has been around for a few years and, with the appropriate service packs applied, it has attained a good degree of stability. Another good reason to stick with Windows 2000 is application compatibility. Some older applications might work under Windows 2000, but not under Windows 2003 or Windows XP. Of course, your vendor might provide updates to applications to make them compatible with the newer operating systems. But having to upgrade a lot of applications at the same time you're upgrading operating systems will require careful planning, testing, and a lot of work.

Another peripheral reason why you might want to consider Windows 2000 over Windows 2003/XP is the availability of trained personnel. Even though Microsoft will likely begin to rescind support (and user certifications) for older operating systems shortly after Windows 2003 starts to gain momentum, that doesn't mean that you'll find a lot of people who are trained on the newer OSs. And just because people are certified for a new operating system doesn't necessarily mean that they're qualified to satisfy your every need when it comes to support. Perhaps the most important thing that I've found to be indicative of an employee's abilities is experience , not certification examinations. There are a lot of people who are very experienced (trial by fire, so to speak) with Windows 2000. It's one thing to read a book about how to drive a car and then pass a written test. It's another thing to get into a car and drive it. Experience counts.

The same goes for your administrative staff. I would not consider passing a certification exam to be all that's required to hire a new employee. Experience counts. If you want to hire employees who understand Windows 2003, it would be a good idea to look at their r sum s to see that they have some experience with Windows 2000 (and the Active Directory) first.

Windows 2003/XP will be around for a few years, just as Windows 2000 has started to be accepted by many Windows sites (and Windows 2000 has been around in one form or another since 1999). So, if you want to wait and perform this upgrade later ”or perhaps skip the Windows 2003/XP generation ”a later upgrade might save you a lot of money in a large organization. One consideration is that some of the features of Windows 2003 variants (and there are four versions of Windows 2003) might be something that your organization can reap great benefits from. If that's the case, consider training your in-house employees on Windows 2003 and then using a laboratory of computers to ensure that the solutions they envision do indeed work.

Note

Just as upgrading to a newer operating system might not be necessary until it has been widely accepted by the marketplace , the same goes for applications. Although Microsoft Office and the various operating systems released in the past few years make up the larger percentage of Microsoft's sales, this author still uses Office 97. I find that Office 97 also runs very well on Windows 2003. Do I have any need to upgrade to Office XP or Office 2000 or XP if all I need is a basic word-processing program? Why should you upgrade if the products you're using now satisfy your requirements? If you skip a few generations of operating systems and applications, it will likely be more difficult to upgrade. But consider this fact: Will it be easier to continually upgrade as each new OS or product is brought to market? Will it be less expensive? Another thing to look at when using Microsoft products (as opposed to Linux and other open source products) is how the licensing cost will impact your bottom line. Microsoft is continually changing its licensing policies, mainly due to market pressure.

There's one good reason to go ahead with the upgrade to the Windows 2003/XP platforms: support. This issue can be a minor one if you've already prepared your own support infrastructure, such as keeping personnel trained. One inexpensive way to do this is to subscribe to Microsoft's MSDN (Microsoft Developer's Network). MSDN gives you a superset of the documentation and knowledge articles that you can get from msdn.microsoft.com. Even though the articles on the Web site may be aged out over time, you can always turn to your CDs (or DVDs, if you chose that option) to find support for Windows 2000 as the next few years go by. Microsoft also offers a subscription to TechNet, which is a scaled-down version of the MSDN subscription. I suggest that you subscribe to one or the other as your budget permits . In a large network, the MSDN subscription is a small cost to pay for the many benefits (from programming to operating systems) you'll get.

Tip

Another option you might want to consider is the Microsoft Action Pack. This is a subscription that supplies Microsoft Partners with operating systems, Exchange Server, and a few other software items. If you do not need the development tools that come with an MSDN subscription, you can at least preview newer operating systems and some software by becoming a Microsoft Partner. You can sign up as a partner by becoming a reseller, or even a consultant. See the Web site at www. members .microsoft.com/partner/salesmarketing/.

If you already have trained personnel for the current operating system and applications, support isn't that much of an issue for your network. Yet, Windows 2003/XP might be a good choice mainly because of the additional functionality and security improvements they provide. For example, Windows XP Professional has a new user-friendly GUI (although you can choose to revert to the classic Windows interface). Other important features of Windows XP Professional include a solution to what is called (in Microsoft documentation) DLL hell . Applications that now overwrite DLLs (dynamic link libraries) in the Windows NT/2000/2003/XP environment are now stored in application-specific directories, so the core DLLs located in the system files directory remain untouched (except by Microsoft updates, of course). This can solve a lot of headaches for network administrators who are deploying new applications. So, if your network adopts new applications frequently, upgrading might be a good choice as opposed to a network that requires only minor upgrades for applications.

Windows XP also has many other new features, some that make the user experience easier and some of which solve problems that exist in Windows 2000. For example, the capability to set checkpoints and roll back to a previous state on the computer is an important one. This feature is called System Restore . If you or a user makes a change to the desktop's configuration or installs an application that causes problems, it's easy to simply use System Restore to go back to the previous configuration of the desktop without having to remove programs and diagnose other configuration changes. System Restore enables you to create these checkpoints yourself (for example, just before you make the changes), and automatically creates checkpoints on a periodic basis and when some changes are made to the operating system or applications. However, it's best to create a checkpoint yourself (a simple matter) before making changes to the desktop computer.

Tip

For more information about DLL hell and System Restore, see Platinum Edition Using Windows XP , published by Que Publishing (ISBN 0789727900).

System Restore is not a free lunch . It works by saving critical system files, including Registry settings, on the hard disk so that it will have the necessary information to restore your computer if you choose to roll back to a previous state. If disk space is important, this feature might not suit your environment. System Restore requires, at a minimum, 200MB of disk space. However, you can change this to a larger value to keep old restore points around for a longer period of time.

There are many other features that Windows XP offers for desktop users that go far beyond the scope of this chapter. You might want to check out these features on Microsoft's Windows Web pages for Windows XP. There are many white papers and other documents available on Microsoft's Web site. Some changes are cosmetic ”such as stacking multiple instances of a single program into one item on the toolbar when the toolbar has become overpopulated ”to the new interface ”to the capability to enable another user to take control of the desktop and assist a user with problems. Many of these new features are also offered by third-party products. However, if you have not yet invested in these kinds of products, you might find the features that Windows XP offers for desktop users ”not to mention the features to make life easier for your help desk staff ”worth the upgrade.

Windows 2003 Server(s) are another story altogether. You'll find Windows 2003 Server Standard Edition, Windows 2003 Enterprise Server, and Windows 2003 Web Server. And there's always the new 64-bit Windows 2003 Datacenter Server. If you're contemplating an upgrade to the higher end of this line, please check out the specifications and benefits you can achieve from this upgrade. Keep in mind that the 64-bit Datacenter server offers greater computing capacity, but lacks some of the improvements that you'll find in the other Windows 2003 server products and the capability to run some applications.

With all that said, let's now get on upgrading to Windows 2000 and then Windows 2003 if your network consists now of Windows NT 4.0.

Tip

Whatever you decide, check Microsoft's Web site and examine all the white papers and other documentation available to determine whether you'll benefit from an upgrade to Windows 2000 or Windows 2003, much less Windows XP.