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By Joseph C. Panettieri
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Microsoft's New "Designed for..." Logo
Microsoft has found a way to guarantee a flood of new applications for Windows NT Workstation 4.0. But that may not make everyone happy.
The new "Designed for Microsoft Windows NT and Windows 95" Logo Program will identify software and hardware that support Win95 and NT Workstation 4.0. It promises to eliminate interoperability woes for firms that use both OSes.
For some developers, this could trigger a migraine. For instance, Win95 game developers, who now target consumers, will have to develop for NT as well, and high-end packages such as CAD/CAM must run on Win95. Microsoft does not plan to offer a logo that delineates NT- or Win95-specific applications. "Vendors are free to label their software for use with NT or Win95 specifically," explained Solveig Whittle, product manager for Windows NT Workstation.
The company has been down this road before; the original "Designed for Windows 95" logo was actually meant to incorporate NT. However, architectural differences between Win95 and NT 3.51 forced it to back down. One example: Many fax packages couldn't run fully on NT 3.51 because NT lacked TAPI support. NT 4.0 addressed these problems, and Microsoft plans to phase out the Win95 logo by Jan. 1.
To earn the new logo, a Win32 app must support OLE, a complete uninstall and DirectX, among other things. Veritest of Santa Monica, Calif., will test and certify applications to carry the logo.
Microsoft also plans a single Win95/NT hardware compatibility logo. There may be problems here. For example, will RISC vendors be left logo-less since Win95 runs only on x86 hardware? Microsoft says it will offer a separate logo for RISC vendors.
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