Windows 2000

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Bruce Speyer:  “This is Bruce Speyer, and I’m recording after hours at AIUM because I’m always too busy to be in front of the camera during the show.  I’m here with Dr. Ed Zabrek, and we want to record a few segments for the new technology section of OBGYN.net that we’re building up along with Dr. Eberhard Lisse from Namibia.  We’re going to talk quickly about Windows 2000 because Dr. Zabrek has used Windows 2000, not too many people have.  So tell us, Ed, what is Windows 2000 and what is it for?”

Dr. Ed Zabrek:  “There are three types of Windows 2000, there’s a Windows 2000 Professional which is basically the upgrade from NT 4.0 Workstation, it really is NT 5.0 plug-and-play, it’s really a summary of what Windows 2000 is.  There is a Windows 2000 Server and there’s a Windows 2000 Advanced Server, basically, the server is like the Windows NT 4.0 Server.  The 2000 Advanced Server has a lot more web applications and distribution and things that I’m never going to get involved in but to answer the question there are three Windows 2000’s.  I’ve been working with the Professional.”

Bruce Speyer:  “So if you’re using Windows 95 or 98, is it time to upgrade?”

Dr. Ed Zabrek:  “Let me see, no, I don’t think it is.  I don’t think it is, I think that we have a little ways to go.  I will tell you when I did my upgrade, I did it on a PC in my office that was running software that I need to run so I was a little daring.  When you take the Windows 2000 Professional which is the CD I used, I put it in my CD-ROM and just like if you have Windows 95 or Windows 98, if you put a CD that’s more advanced or newer than what you have loading as your current operating system, you get this wonderful screen that says you are currently running a system that is older than the one in the unit, or whatever it says, do you want to upgrade?  If you do that, and someone gives you a CD - say no.  So that’s a nutshell of if we’re ready for Windows 2000 right now.  I said yes and the upgrade process actually was pretty painless, however, once I was actually up and running with Windows 2000, I found there were a lot of software programs that did not run.”

Bruce Speyer:  “So why would someone want to upgrade to 2000 or even if it’s not ready now, presumably it will be ready some time in the future, what would be the reasons you would want to go 2000 as opposed to staying with 98 or NT 4.0?”

Dr. Ed Zabrek:  “Early adapters, certainly anybody who wants the latest and greatest wants to do it but again, not yet.  There’s no doubt the way Microsoft is positioning Windows 2000, that it is the operating system of the future.  It is not Windows 2000’s fault necessarily, I think they brought it out a little early because the vendors have not caught up with the drivers that are necessary to run on 2000.  I’d say probably within six months there will be a lot of catch up.  I’ll give you an example of what happened to me.  I’m running with Windows NT Server and Windows 2000.  There’s a tremendous problem with my printer driver from HP, a 2100 very common laser jet printer, I could not get it to print, still can’t get it to print.  There’s not a solution because the drivers are not compatible and there are other issues, it’s mainly drivers for hardware.  A lot of software programs will work if you try to run them, but they have to have been NT compliant before so I think if you’re going to upgrade certainly check with whatever you’re running on your current operating system.  If you’re running medical manager’s software or if you’re running software that, say, has your billing system on it, by all means check with your supplier.  Make sure that they’re 2000 compliant, if they’re not, no matter how much you want to be an early adapter - don’t do it.”

Bruce Speyer:  “I know that for people in the technology section, some of you are running servers and some fairly system intensive applications like web servers and such.  So you have to put NT unto your notebooks and right now NT on the notebooks is really bad when it comes to PCMCIA cards and USB support - there is no USB support.”

Dr. Ed Zabrek:  “Correct.”

Bruce Speyer:  “And Power Management and there’s no plug-and-play, you just pop new hardware in and it works.  Also, Windows 98 on laptops crashes a lot and I’ve heard there was one doctor here who is running Windows 2000 on his laptop and he says he’s getting about 10% of the crashes he got when he was running Windows 98 on the exact same laptop.  So I actually think Windows 2000 compared to 98 is a real system, 98’s a toy and so it is going to be important from a liability standpoint.”

Dr. Ed Zabrek:  “Yes, but I will say from a stability or crash standpoint, there’s no doubt Windows 2000 is better than 98.  The plug-and-play capabilities are incredible, USB support, and PCMCIA support, if they’ve got drivers, they’re working fantastic.  I will tell you another example where 2000 worked incredibly well - I put a DSL line on my 2000 PC and it was probably the first PC that SouthWestern Bell had installed with 2000.  They normally go through a bunch of configurations, he put it up and said - now we have to configure this.  Windows 2000 found it right away and it ran with it so there’s no doubt there are some advantages.  And definitely on a laptop if it’s a bare bones laptop that you’re not running Norton System Works 2000 which is not compatible and other software programs, it is much better than running Windows NT.  If you’re going to be running Windows NT on a laptop definitely that would be a case, even today I would go to 2000.”

Bruce Speyer:  “I think this is probably good techy talk, and I can see our audience is out there laughing because it’s so technical so I guess we’ll conclude with that.  If you any questions about Windows 2000 or other technical subjects, you can write Dr. Zabrek, myself, Dr. Lisse, or some of the other doctors who will be coming on the Board of the Technical section of OBGYN.net.  We’ll have that e-mail address posted in the Technical section as we get launched in the next month.  Thank you.”

Dr. Ed Zabrek:  “Thanks.”

Bruce Speyer:  “Thank you, Dr. Zabrek.”

Dr. Ed Zabrek:  “My pleasure.”