MIGRATION ISSUES

Technology managers have delayed in deploying Windows NT 4.0 until any potential problems of this OS have been fixed. Microsoft admits that users who install Windows NT 4.0 on top of Windows 95 will run into a costly and time consuming problem due to the fact that they will have to reinstall all of their desktop applications.

Microsoft produces a utility that permits users to more effectively migrate applications to Windows NT. However, the utility will only migrate applications running on earlier versions of Windows but not Windows 95 applications. This is why it is ineffective for Windows 95 users to migrate to Windows NT 4.0 the problem of having no direct upgrade path makes the venture somewhat problematic.

If an organization has a Systems Management Server the situation would not be so difficult. Reloading each application will cost time and a large amount of money. Microsoft's Systems Management Server (SMS) is the software distribution tool for the Windows NT Server that allows IT managers to automatically distribute and install PC software across a network.

The main problem in this upgrade path is that of Windows 95's applications Registry and the Registry in Windows NT. The Registry is a system level database that keeps track of important information regarding each application's files, dynamic link libraries, and device drivers. Windows 3.x did not have a Registry, however it kept such information in cryptic and hard to manage files called .INI files.

The Windows 95 Registry was created to make it...