Focus on Windows 2000

Without forgetting Windows NT

This year, Windows NT Magazine subscribers will receive 14 issues instead of 12. In May, the first bonus issue presented our editors' favorite products. This second bonus issue focuses entirely on Windows 2000 (Win2K). We hope that this bonus issue will give you a preview of what to expect and help you assess the technical requirements as you plan your Win2K implementation.

The next issue of Windows NT Magazine (December 1999) will return to our usual extensive coverage of Windows NT 4.0, and we'll continue to keep you up-to-date on Win2K as things unfold. Even after the launch of Win2K, one of our challenges will be to balance the coverage of Win2K with NT 4.0. You've asked us to stay ahead of the curve, yet provide information you can use today to do your job. Given this challenge, we plan to focus the bulk of our editorial coverage on NT until you tell us to change the balance.

On the product-review front, our lab director, David Chernicoff, has started the lab staff working to provide in-depth analysis of products available for Win2K, while continuing to review NT products. A year ago, David came to Windows NT Magazine from Windows Sources, and he was previously the lab director for PCWeek. "The Windows NT Magazine Lab will continue its focus on the enterprise-ready products that help you do your job. With the release of Win2K, we'll add testing to determine these products' readiness for and integration with the advanced features of Win2K Server, Win2K Advanced Server (Win2K AS), and Win2K Datacenter Server (Datacenter). Integration with Active Directory (AD) and support for clustering, IntelliMirror, and the Windows Installer are just the tip of the iceberg," says David.

New and Improved

The next issue of Windows NT Magazine will return to our usual extensive coverage of NT 4.0, and we'll continue to keep you up-to-date on Win2K as things unfold.

In addition to balancing Win2K and NT coverage, we'll continue to explore various content areas in increasing depth to ensure that you have all the information you need. For example, starting with the December issue of the magazine, John Ruley will contribute a new column for power users. John, formerly of Windows Magazine, is the author of Networking Windows NT and has written about NT since its first beta. One of John's goals is to help you get the most value out of Win2K Professional (Win2K Pro). "My first column analyzes how much RAM you really need for reasonable Win2K performance on the desktop—and examines how virtual memory settings affect that performance. Future topics include dual-booting between Win2K and Windows 98, desktop performance logging, using Windows CE with Win2K, SMP on the desktop, and compatibility issues including DirectX. I recently switched to a late Win2K Pro beta for my full-time use, and (now that I have enough memory in my system) I like it," says John.

Another area that requires increased coverage is Microsoft Exchange Server. Over the past few years, we've noticed a dramatic increase in the number of Windows NT Magazine readers who have implemented Exchange Server in their organization and who want articles to help them use Exchange and Microsoft Outlook effectively. As a result, we started a monthly newsletter, Exchange Administrator.

Response to this newsletter has been excellent—in fact, it has far exceeded our expectations, and the demand for Exchange and Outlook coverage is still growing. So much so, that we've decided to include an Exchange administrator section in Windows NT Magazine. This new section will debut in the January issue and will provide more of the same high-quality, problem-solving articles that have always appeared in the magazine and the newsletter. And the authors will still be the industry's most highly regarded experts, including Tony Redmond, Sue Mosher, Jerry Cochran, and Paul Robichaux.

Tell Us What You Need
Windows NT Magazine's mission is to help you do your job. Let me know what topics you'd like us to cover in more depth and what topics you're no longer interested in.

End of Article

In his Winter 1999/2000 editorial, "Focus on Windows 2000," Mark Smith asks readers to submit topics for Windows 2000 Magazine to cover in more depth. My suggestion is scripting. Network administrators who love what they do for a living will always go bonkers over scripting articles.
--Rob Bonham

Rob Bonham February 16, 2000

<i> You might want to check out our Win32 Scripting Journal newsletter (http://www
.win32scripting.com).
--Mark Smith </i>

Mark Smith February 16, 2000

I rely on your magazine (whatever its name--Windows NT Magazine or Windows 2000 Magazine) to keep me informed about Microsoft's server and workstation OSs and to increase my depth of knowledge about the subject. I'm somewhat troubled to read in Mark Smith's Winter 1999/2000 editorial, "Focus on Windows 2000," that you will include a Microsoft Exchange administrator section in the magazine, starting in January 2000. I read most of the articles in each issue of the magazine, but because my enterprise uses neither Exchange Server nor Microsoft SQL Server, I skip over those articles and sections (which seem to be expanding).
I agree that core server-based applications such as messaging and database servers are relevant to any discussion of server OSs, but as Barrie Sosinsky reports in News Analysis: "The Year of the Messenger" (December 1999), Lotus Domino and Lotus Notes continue to lead Exchange Server and Microsoft Outlook in total number of seats in the marketplace. If the magazine is going to cover messaging and database systems, I'd appreciate articles that reflect the mix of products in the marketplace, rather than articles that relate to only Microsoft BackOffice. Surely, that is not part of the OS!
--Nathan Borson

Nathan Borson February 24, 2000

<i>Several years ago, our Notes vs. Exchange readers were running about even. During the past few years, we've seen Notes users drop to approximately 20 percent or our readership, while Exchange users head toward 70 percent. Certainly, we have to ask the typical chicken-vs.-egg question: Did our focus on Exchange cause more Exchange users to read our publication, or did users migrate to Exchange despite our coverage? Whatever the reason, an Exchange-heavy reader environment is what we see. Nevertheless, we need to make sure our coverage reflects our readers' interest, and your letter will help motivate us to get Notes further into the mix. (Also, check out our sister online publication, DominoPro, at http://www.dominopro.com.)
You have to wonder how far Microsoft will go in integrating BackOffice into Windows 2000 (Win2K). Envisioning how this integration could take place isn't hard: Will Microsoft integrate pieces of Exchange Server and SQL Server into Win2K?
--Mark Smith</i>

Mark Smith February 24, 2000

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