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Windows 98 disables
Microsoft competitors'
software
July 14, 1998
Web posted at: 10:45 AM EDT
by Brian Livingston
From...
(IDG) -- The setup routine
for Microsoft's new
Windows 98 operating
system deliberately disables
files used by competitors'
software and installs different
versions of those files for the
use of Windows 98.
Windows 98 includes a new utility, the Version
Conflict Manager, or VCM,
to keep track of the disabled files and provide a way
for users to switch the
files back. But the Win98 setup routine does not
provide any notice to users
that the files are being changed or that the Version
Conflict Manager is
available if a competitors' software no longer
operates properly.
The changed files are DLLs -- small support programs
that are shared by
several applications -- as well as other shared files.
If the Windows 98 setup
routine detects that a competitors' program has
installed a newer shared file
than the version that comes with Windows 98, the setup
routine moves the
file to a new location, thereby disabling it. Win98
then installs an older
version of the same file into the proper location. The
application that
depended on the newer version of that file may no
longer work properly, or
it may no longer work at all.
Microsoft product manager Shawn Sanford
stated in an e-mail exchange, "We wanted
to be assured of a known, working baseline
operating system when we were done with
installation." This practice, however, places
competitors who rely on the newer files at a
severe disadvantage. Competitors'
applications may no longer work, but users
would have received no notice of the
change.
In one test machine, the Windows 98 setup
routine disabled three shared files:
Twain.dll 1.6.0.3 (supports
numerous scanners and other
devices)
Msconv97.dll 1997.4.2
W95inf32.dll 4.71.17
The files were replaced with these older
versions:
Twain.dll 1.6.0.1
Msconv97.dll 1997.3.12
W95inf32.dll 4.71.16
The Twain file, of course, is a popular driver that
supports numerous
scanners and other devices. Files of this type usually
originate with Microsoft
and are distributed by the Redmond, Wash. software
giant to competitors
for use with its products. But Windows 98 appears to
rely upon earlier
versions and swaps the files, whether or not this has
a negative effect on
other installed applications.
The Version Conflict Manager lets the user select a
file and trade the older
version for the newer version. But a Win98 user
typically has no knowledge
of what applications use which shared files or which
version of each file
would be "better." Moreover, the utility is unlikely
to be found routinely by
users, because it is buried deep within Win98's menu
structure: Click Start,
Programs, Accessories, System Tools, System
Information, Tools, Version
Conflict Manager -- and then you will find it.
Ironically, the origin of the Version Conflict Manager
appears to have been a
series of four columns written I wrote from Sept. 2 to
Sept. 23, 1996. The
columns complained that Windows 95 allowed
applications to install older
versions of shared files over newer ones, causing
programs to crash. I urged
Microsoft to have Windows catch such conflicts and
prevent them, while
allowing the user to switch between shared files, if
necessary, later.
Rather than make the Version Conflict Manager
available to all applications,
however, "the VCM mechanism is only turned on during
Windows 98
install," according to Sanford. After Win98's setup is
over, the Version
Conflict Manager ceases monitoring the system. If the
installation of a
third-party application subsequently causes a problem,
the Version Conflict
Manager will have no information about the situation.
Any user who installs Windows 98 should check the
Version Conflict
Manager immediately after the setup routine is
complete to see if any shared
files were changed. The Version Conflict Manager
should show the names
and version numbers of any files the Win98 setup
routine modified. If this is
the case, I'll describe in my column next week how you
can tell what
applications rely on those files and whether you
should switch to the newer
versions.
Brian Livingston is the co-author of several
best-selling Windows
books, including the most recent Windows 95 Secrets
(IDG Books).
Send comments to brian_livingston@infoworld.com.
Unfortunately, he
cannot answer individual questions.
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