Atlanta, GA -- As Russell Shaw reported for Newsbytes, Bill Gates used part of his time during the keynote presentation at Comdex Spring '97 to tout the forthcoming version of Microsoft's NT operating system. The 5.0 version, Gates said, will contain more than four million lines of code and be shipped the first half of 1998. Gates revealed that the first set of NT 5.0 beta copies have been shipped to developers. He said that users will find several enhancements over the existing NT 4.0, including substantially expanded directory-building functions. "We're very much code complete, but we need more user assurance before we get the final version out," Gates noted. Windows NT is competitive with Unix-based operating systems, but Gates didn't want to predict the exact percentage of inroads the new Windows NT would make. Predictably, though, his generic forecast for NT 5.0 was rather upbeat. "In terms of new servers being bought, we have got the opportunity to jump into a very, very strong position. People are going to keep around their mainframes, and their Unix systems, but in terms of new servers being bought, we've got the opportunity to jump into a very, very strong position," he said. The lion's share of Microsoft's $1 billion a year Windows-related research and development budget -- which totals about $2 billion a year, is devoted to NT. But according to Gates, the increasing sophistication of NT isn't being sparked by research and development breakthroughs, but is being driven by increased application environments from the user base. "Every year, NT has gotten a lot richer. What this is all about is that people are building a new generation of applications. They are building new components, and they are building them to run across the Internet, and they are building them to be very scalable and very reliable. In order to make that possible, the operating system needs to be very rich in terms of directories." Gates was careful to note, though, that Microsoft's research and development is not devoted to the high-end user alone. He named the Windows CE interface environment for palm-tops, and WebTV, as an example of his point. Two months ago, Microsoft announced it was purchasing WebTV from its founders for $425 million. "If the Internet continues to explode, you'll have a variety of devices hooked up that will continue to expand..."
Bill Gates Speaks About 1998 Release of NT 5.0
June 6, 1997