PC 97 Road Map

Microsoft's planned upgrades of its Windows OSes portend changes to a wide variety of PC components.

Dave Andrews

The Internet seems to redefine practically everything these days, even the basic definition of the PC itself. Microsoft has added a fourth category of PC, called the NetPC, to its set of recommended hardware specifications for running the next versions of Windows 95 and NT. The specifications (for highlights, see "The Four Varieties of Windows PCs" ) describe the minimum requirements that a PC must satisfy to qualify for the "Designed for Windows" logo in one of four varieties of PC. Although the final specification for the NetPC wasn't slated for release until February, preliminary indications are that it will be a sealed PC, which means you won't add new peripherals to the NetPC by opening its case -- instead, you'll add new hardware via an external bus, for example, the universal serial bus (USB). The NetPC also makes a floppy drive optional. The NetPC and other network-centered technologies join initiatives such as improved power management and instant accessibility, which Microsoft and its partners have planned for PCs this year.

By establishing a NetPC standard and through its Zero Administration for Windows (ZAW) initiative (see the interview with Victor Raisys), Microsoft hopes to help companies reduce the cost of PC ownership. A key attraction of netw ork computers, whether they conform to Microsoft's, Oracle's, or another definition, is reduced management costs.

ZAW adds support for such features as automatic system updates and application installation and central administration to the next version of Windows 95 (code-named Memphis) and NT 5.0 (currently slated to ship in the second half of this year). Without a floppy drive, a NetPC will help preven t the installation by end users of unauthorized software.

The NetPC and ZAW are but two changes that Microsoft and its many hardware partners have on tap for the PC landscape this year. Through its OnNow initiative , Microsoft is introducing a systemwide approach to PC and device power control. OnNow relies on the Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI), which is the foundation that enables the OS, instead of the BIOS, to direct power management. "Certain functions like power management require information about how the system is being used, including applications, drivers, and the user's expectations," says Mike Flora, Microsoft hardware evangelist. "The BIOS does not have access to this information."

By putting power management into the OS, Microsoft says PCs will get smarter about turning devices on and off. OnNow lets applications communicate to inform the rest of the PC what the user is doing, instead of the more traditional approach, in which the hardware and BIOS 's power management functions are transparent to the application. Thus, OnNow should eliminate annoying occurrences such as your screen going blank in the middle of a presentation and delays when hard disks spin up unexpectedly. Also, an OnNow-compliant application can check to see if a notebook is running on batteries, and if so, turn off nonessential background tasks and postpone low-priority disk I/O to preserve battery life.

OnNow puts the PC into a low-power sleep state instead of shutting it down completely. But once in this low-power state, the system will return to its working state quickly. When an OnNow-compliant peripheral is needed (e.g., a modem for a late-night file transfer), it turns on quickly, performs its task, and goes back to its sleep state. OnNow will also help PCs fit in better in the consumer world -- inserting a tape into a PC-attached VCR will turn on the computer and other devices such as the display and sound card.

All these initiatives will require a host of changes to th e Windows OSes, hardware, firmware, and applications. For one thing, NT 5.0 and Memphis will share a common device-driver model called the Win32 Driver Model. PCI and 1394 will require new power management specifications, a process that's under way. Applications will need to be rewritten to take advantage of OnNow. Windows 95 and NT will further converge. NT 5.0 will get the same power management and Plug and Play capabilities as Memphis.

PC makers say the time frame for certain features specified by Microsoft's PC 97 definitions is still subject to change. By midyear, the USB should be widely supported by PCs, but 1394 may not be a mainstream technology until 1998.

At press time, it was unclear to what extent today's applications and hardware will be compatible with the PC architecture of the future. Already, certain technologies included in an OEM version of Win 95, which is available only to PC makers for bundling on their new PCs, are incompatible with current applications. For example, disk utili ties released in 1996 aren't compatible with the FAT32 file allocation table. Although the technologies planned for PC 97 promise to make computers more accessible to beginners and easier to manage, many pieces that make up the PC puzzle will need to be upgraded.

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The Four Varieties of Windows PCs

Basic PC 97:
 120-MHz Pentium, 16 MB of RAM, hardware support for
OnNow initiative, USB port, support for MPEG-1 playback, graphics
adapter capable of 800- by 600-pixel, 16-bit display.


Workstation 97:
 166-MHz Pentium with an L2 cache of at least 256 KB,
32 MB of RAM, hardware support for OnNow, USB port, 1024- by
768-pixel by 16-bit display.


Entertainment PC 97:
 166-MHz Pentium with an L2 cache of at least 256
KB, 16 MB of RAM, hardware support for OnNow, two USB ports, one 1394
port, 1024- by 768-pixel by 16-bit display.


NetPC:
 100-MHz Pentium, sealed PC with a network connection, VGA
adapte
r, hard drive to cache information locally, support for a mouse
and keyboard, and 16 MB of RAM. A floppy drive is optional.

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Instant PC Turn-On

illustration_link (40 Kbytes)

Microsoft hopes OnNow will allow for instantly accessible PCs with smarter power management.