Is Your City Planning on Upgrading to Windows XP?
by Chris Noyes
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Benjamin Franklin once said that the only two things guaranteed in life are death and taxes. Well, we need to amend that to include personal computer (PC) hardware and operating system upgrades. Upgrades have become the natural order of things in the business world. Remember when PCs moved from the DOS environment to Windows 3.11, circa 1993? We’ve come a long way since then.
When was the last time you upgraded your operating system? Are you still running OS/2, DOS, Windows 95 or Windows 98, Second Edition on your desktop PCs? For some, it may be working fine – but eventually, you’ll need to upgrade your desktop operating system or hardware to be able to execute the most current versions of software purchased or developed with new technology.
You may cringe at the thought of moving to a new platform, and may have heard horror stories about others’ PC upgrades. Well, those days of nightmares and banging your head on your desk are finally over. With proper planning and the right hardware configuration, your city can upgrade to a variety of operating systems. But let’s look at the newest version of Windows, which is Windows XP.
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According to Microsoft’s Support Lifecycle Policy, the company stopped its mainstream support for Windows 98 as of June 30, 2002, and will stop the extended support on June 30, 2003. This means you will have trouble finding support for new technology that is introduced in the coming years. Finding support for Windows 98 will become increasingly hard as Microsoft (and vendors) update their software.
In addition to the support issues, there are many benefits to consider when determining whether to upgrade your PCs’ operating systems technology. Independent studies from VeriTest confirm that Windows XP starts up 27 percent faster than Windows 98 and continues to process 30 times longer without a single problem. XP also runs applications faster and much more efficiently. If a vendor’s application happens to run into some problems, the whole computer does not have to be restarted for it to continue working. The user can just close the offending application and restart it without losing data from other applications that are open.
Computers crash and provide users with that blank blue screen for a variety of reasons. One reason is poorly written software from vendors; another is that when some software is installed, it may overwrite important files needed by the PC’s operating system to run smoothly. Windows XP has built-in features to prevent this from happening. Even if a file is inadvertently overwritten, XP will restore the critical system file automatically. This feature will assist in keeping your technology environment stable and will substantially reduce calls to your technology help desk.
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The Windows XP operating system has many new features previously unavailable. There are hundreds of improvements, but we have only listed a few below. Each of these new features helps your technology staff in providing a stable and worry-free computing environment.
Driver Rollback
Encryption File System
System Restore
64-Bit Support
Automated System Recovery
Remote Desktop
Internet Connection Firewall
Group Policy
Software Restriction Policies
Application Compatibility Mode
Security Improvements for Servers on Ethernet or Wireless LANs
Supporting New Hardware Technologies
Microsoft has made the transition to the Windows XP operating system very easy. If your city is considering upgrading your operating systems, you can visit the Microsoft Web site and run a hardware compatibility test on each hardware configuration to see if it’s ready for Windows XP. If not, it will tell you how you can get your hardware ready. Also, don’t forget to review your current versions of software for compatibility with the new Windows environment. You may need to contact software vendors for specific applications you use for the newest upgrade or for a special patch that will allow the software to work on the Windows XP operating system. Upgrading a citywide environment to a new operating system is not a simple task and must be properly planned.
If you have any questions or concerns involving your city’s plans to upgrade its desktop operating systems to Windows XP, please call the Florida League of Cities’ Technology Services Department at 1-(800) 445-6248, ext. 366, or e-mail a technology services support specialist.
Reprinted from Quality Cities January/February 2003
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