Dear Windows-Help.NET Subscriber,
Microsoft announced its pricing strategy for Windows 2000, offering a special upgrade price to draw Windows 9.x users to upgrade to the new Windows 2000 Professional client. This upgrade will cost $219. Microsoft has another incentive: a unique upgrade-in-place capability that will allow Windows 9.x users to carry over their settings to the upgraded Windows 2000 Professional. Previously, the software giant discouraged users from upgrading from Windows 9.x to NT Workstation 4.0 because they would have to reconfigure the client entirely.
Windows 2000 Professional will sell for an estimated retail price of $319, the same as Windows NT 4 Workstation. An upgrade from Windows NT will cost $149.
Microsoft's revised scheme for calculating so-called client-access licenses (CALs) could mean additional costs for businesses.
Under the Windows NT 4 licensing program, a CAL is required for every user accessing a Windows NT server for filing and printing services, but not for Web surfers inside the corporate network or those coming in from the outside. Beginning with Windows 2000, a CAL is necessary for each individual requiring authentication, such as would be necessary for a secure online transaction.
As a result, customers planning to move e-commerce applications from Windows NT to Windows 2000 could face a price increase.
To combat this, Microsoft also plans to unveil a $2,000 flat fee Internet Connector CAL for unlimited Internet access for authenticated users.
Server Pricing
A five-user version of Windows 2000 Server will cost $999, or $499 as an upgrade from a previous version of Windows NT or Novell NetWare, while Windows 2000 Server with 10 user licenses will be available for $1,199, or as an upgrade from Windows NT 4 or NetWare for $599.
Windows 2000 Advanced Server will cost $3,999 for 25 users or $1,999 as an upgrade from Windows NT 4 Enterprise Edition.
Windows 2000 will be available as: Windows 2000 Professional, Windows 2000 Server, and Windows 2000 Advanced Server (release scheduled for February 17). Windows 2000 Datacenter is scheduled to ship about 120 days later.
RealNetworks Issues Patch to Address Privacy Concerns of Users
RealNetworks has released a software update to RealJukebox that prevents the transmission of certain user information to RealNetworks during the Get Music service update and also disables the RealJukebox ID. These settings had been sent to RealNetworks to acquire statistical data that they would use to improve their products. However, to address any potential customer concern, RealNetworks has released an update to address this issue.
The update is now available. If you already have RealJukebox Final Release, click here. If you have Beta 2, you can select "Check for Update" from the RealJukebox Help menu.
According to RealNetworks, the data they were collecting was meant to provide statistics regarding aggregate use of RealJukebox, not individual use. RealNetworks also added: "Nonetheless the company will cease the collection of the type of data that led to the privacy concerns raised until such time as the company enhances how it provides for clear informed consent".
This privacy issue was first reported by The New York Times (to view the article you need to subscribe - FREE).
06 Nov. 1999, Vol 2 No. 44