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Windows 98 Overview
Overview
Microsoft Windows 98 is currently considered the default operating system for personal computers. It is not much different from its predecessor, Windows 95 (OSR2). A few bugs have been fixed, certain networking tasks are more automated, and the desktop is now more like a web browser. If you want, you can customize your desktop to make it even more like a web browser. Some of Windows 95's memory management issues have been addressed. Most of Microsoft's programming effort seems to have been used to integrate a a web browser, Internet Explorer, into Windows 98 itself. While Windows 98 is generally considered fairly easy to use (at least for most basic uses), its chief advantage is and continues to be the wide variety of software and hardware available to it. Most people buy Windows because they know that most software will run on it, and most software is written for Windows because companies realize that most computer users own Windows computers. Some have speculated that this self-reinforcing cycle has lead to complacency: the difference between Windows 95 and Windows 98 is much smaller than the difference between Windows 3.1 and Windows 95. Even so, many, if not most, computer users have not yet begun the process of seriously exploring alternatives to Windows.
Background
When IBM began producing personal computers, it chose to subcontract the operating system to a company specializing in that area. Digital Research had the most expertise, but IBM feared that, if they were awarded the contract, they would become too powerful. Hence, IBM chose Microsoft to write the operating system for IBM's first personal computers, or PC's. Microsoft responded by licensing an operating system from another company. This operating system became MS-DOS. IBM had originally considered its competition to be other companies that produced their own personal computers with their own operating systems. Apple, Commodore, and Texas Instruments come to mind. Soon, however, IBM came to face competition in a new and unexpected direction. Clone manufacturers began producing computers that used Intel CPU's to run MS-DOS. These computers could take advantage of the software written for IBM PC's. What's more, they were less expensive than computers made by IBM. To regain control over the personal computer market, IBM and Microsoft began joint development on a new operating system, dubbed "OS/2." MS-DOS, by implication, was operating system number one. IBM decided to use several years to develop OS/2, to ensure that the product was reliable. As a stopgap, Microsoft deployed its first version of Windows. IBM had hoped to use OS/2 as a tool to control the personal computer market. If OS/2 became the dominant operating system, then IBM could use licensing to effectively choose which computer manufacturers could, and could not, stay in business.