Microsoft Plans 64-Bit Win 2000 Beta For 2Q

( 2/18/00; 1:00 PM EST)
By Paula Rooney, Computer Reseller News

With Windows 2000 now out the door, Microsoft is promising to release the first beta of its 64-bit version for Intel's Itanium chip next quarter, Microsoft officials said Thursday.

The final version will ship concurrently with the availability of Intel's 64-bit processor when it ships later in the year, Microsoft officials said. Microsoft and Intel also this week announced an advanced version of the IA-64 Software Development Kit for 64-bit Windows.

This is just one of several post-Windows 2000 projects the software giant has under way under the code name Whistler.

Microsoft decided to use the umbrella name after consolidating its separate Consumer NT efforts, previously called Neptune, and the next Windows 2000 business upgrade, formerly Odyssey, under one division last December, Microsoft sources said.

"The work being done on Neptune and Odyssey were combined into one development effort now called Whistler," one source said.

Whistler, which now refers to both consumer and business Windows upgrades under development, was previously the code name for an upcoming technology in Windows 2000 designed to put "DLL Hell," or the painstakingly slow start-up, to bed forever, Microsoft sources said.

"The Whistler technology will eliminate installation procedures as we know them by fooling every application into thinking that it is installing on a completely clean Windows installation," said one source familiar with the technology. "The operating system will then manage an application registry where each application uses only the DLLs that it shipped with. This does mean multiple copies of DLLs maintained for each application, but since hard disks are so big now, the waste is less of a concern than it was in the past. The goal is install once, run forever, since applications won't have to contend with DLLs changing underfoot."

Windows 2000 currently protects against "DLL hell" with private DLLs and Windows File Protection. Windows File Protection protects system DLLs from being updated or deleted by unauthorized agents. Applications cannot replace system DLLs; only operating system update packages such as service packs can. The feature has proven annoying to some Windows 2000 users who have tried to load uncertified drivers.

In the future version of Windows, Microsoft will "isolate Windows applications from each other, providing the user with a 'run once, run forever' experience," according to Microsoft's website.

Microsoft has its plate full. Aside from the 64-bit upgrade scheduled for later this year, the company is expected to ship Windows 2000 Datacenter and Windows Millennium Edition, also called Windows Me, this summer. Windows Me is based on the current Win 9.X code and will be the last upgrade based on that code base.

The Consumer NT version being developed under the Whistler project is scheduled for release in March 2001, sources said. It is the first consumer version based on NT code. The next major business upgrade of Windows 2000, also being developed as part of the Whistler project, won't ship until late 2001 at the earliest, analysts predicted.

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