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What's new in Windows 2000 RC1 Reviewed
Windows 2000 Release Candidate 1 (RC1) became available to RDP/JDP customers, technical beta testers, MSDN members, and Corporate Preview Program
(CPP)
customers in early July, bringing hundreds of thousands of Microsoft's customers that much closer to the final version of this milestone operating
system. In addition to bug fixes and new drivers (such as native SB Live! and 3dfx Voodoo3 support), Windows 2000 RC1 also delivers a few new
features.
Common to all Windows 2000 RC1 is a new fade effect that is applied to dragged icons
(Figure 1)
. Admittedly, it's confusing at first, but it's a cool effect: Basically, the farther that icons are from the mouse pointer, the more faded they
are. If you're dragging enough icons, some of them will even disappear while you're dragging, which can be alarming. However, I think I understand
the thinking here: When you're dragging many icons, it's easy to get lost because the icons are covering up the location on screen that you'd like
to get to. By fading out the icons in this fashion, you're always assured to have plenty of screen real estate. Overall, I approve of this new
effect, though it seems to be causing some performance degradation in this build.
Another small UI tweak occurs in network folders, which feature a small, expandable Online/Offline notification in the Web view pane
(Figure 2)
. This feature is handy for Offline Folder use and the expanded message shown in the Figure helps remind users that the feature is available.
Internet Explorer has been updated to version 5.01 in Release Candidate 1. IE 5.01 fixes the "New Window" bug I began reporting to the IE
team almost two years ago, making me wonder what took them so long. I'm still waiting for my apology: I almost got kicked off the IE 5 beta for
complaining about it so much, so I find the fact that it was quietly fixed in exactly the way I initially suggested humorous and pathetic. However,
I'm also happy it works properly now, I almost don't care. Almost. Some of the other improvements to the Windows 2000 version of IE 5.01 are
designed to let the browser work as efficiently as possible in the new environment. There haven't been any big changes to Outlook Express.
After that, there are some edition-specific improvements. Let's take a quick look...
Windows 2000 Professional
Broader Hardware and Software Support
Windows 2000 RC1 includes support for the full DirectX 7.0 (Beta 3 included only a subset of DX7) and NetMeeting 3.01, which has been updated to
be compatible with Windows 2000
(Figure 3)
. New hardware drivers, such as the aforementioned SB Live! and Voodoo3, as well as the ATI Rage 128, bring Windows 2000 up-to-date with the latest
multimedia devices
(Figure 4)
. Microsoft says that it is also supporting over 40 new wireless LAN drivers, 25 new printers, and
FireWire/IEEE 1394 digital cameras in RC1.
Windows 2000 Pro RC1 now supports upgrading Windows 98 Second Edition (SE) where Beta 3 did not. In fact,
I wrote a review
about this very subject.
Simplified User Interface
Microsoft has made small improvements in the user interface of Windows 2000, with clearer text in dialog boxes and error messages. And that annoying
pop-up window that appeared after a network print job had completed has been turned off by default (that one used to drive me crazy; finding the
manual way to turn it off is a nightmare).
Windows 2000 Server
More configurable setup
My complaints have been answered, and if you're looking for a feature that I'm almost literally personally responsible for,
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