Win 95 vs. NT

[Robert Sullivan]

>...However, all the other labs on campus are going to be Win 95
>so the group funding this is reluctant to let us go to NT.  Our 
>arguments are:
> - NT is easier to administer
> - NT is more secure
> - we'll all be going to NT eventually
> - all the programs we plan to run (MS Office Pro, web browser, telnet, 
>   library apps) are fine on NT

I have found all of these to be true.

>I hope some of you ahead of us can help me.  *Is* NT better for administering
>and security?

One of the reasons we went with NT was all of the complaints we read about the
lax security in Win 95.  We have not needed to buy extra security software with
NT.

It's probably even easier if you have NT Server; we have all our machines with
NT Workstation (hope to get Server this year).  I have compiled some hints
about configuring a public NT Workstation machine at
http://www.scpl.org/publicnt.html.  Note that it's not complete.

We've had NT stations out for the public for 5 months, and they haven't cracked
the security yet.

>What are the realistic limitations on the programs that
>can be run? How much difference would an average student see between 95
>and NT?  What other arguments can we use?

I have mostly run NT software, with a little 95.  I tried a Win 3.1 CD-ROM
(something akin to Print Shop) which appear to run but wouldn't print properly. 
Games and other applications which play tricks with graphics or the disk will
probably not function.  I'm going to try installing some children's CD-ROMs on
one of our NT machines, so this should be interesting.

See "War of the Windows" in PC World Jan 1997 pp 123-132.  Even though it's a
year old, it gives a good description of the differences between 95 and NT.  It
also discusses hardware and software which had problems under NT.

The compatibility situation has improved in the last year, but I've always been
glad I was installing it on new machines intended for NT, rather than
upgrading.

Bob Sullivan                               scp_sulli at sals.edu
Schenectady County Public Library (NY)     http://www.scpl.org