Sneak Peek at the Next Windows

Explorer Whistles a New Tune

The Windows-interface tweaks in Whistler carry over into Explorer. The most obvious change is enhanced Web content, which appears in folders in the Web View mode. Like the Start Panel, the beefed-up Web content makes it easier to access common tasks and links, including commands for creating or copying folders and renaming or deleting files. The links are context-sensitive: Opening the My Pictures folder, for example, reveals zoom, rotate, and slide show buttons.

Other changes in Explorer are of questionable value. Build 2250's Explorer lets you group folder contents, but doing so only makes sense occasionally. For example, in the My Computer folder, the Grouping view separates your computer's drives into removable and nonremovable groups. Elsewhere, Grouping simply alphabetizes by file name--a space-consuming arrangement that forces you to do more scrolling to view folder contents. A new view for folder contents, Tiles, resembles but replaces the seldom-used Small Icons view. In Tiles view, the item's name and file type appear on multiple lines to the right of the icon, displaying slightly more information about the folder items but occupying more window space.

Control From Afar

If you rely on computers daily, you may well have a desktop PC at work, a laptop for business travel, and one or more home computers. Whistler Build 2250 includes remote control client and server software for connecting to a computer over a local area network, dial-up, or VPN connection. So while you're working at home, you can retrieve files from your office computer, launch applications on the remote computer, and view the interface on your local machine--either in a window or as a full-screen. Though less full-featured than third-party remote control utilities like LapLink, Whistler's remote control tools might suffice for users who need just the basics.

I tested Whistler's server using Windows 2000's terminal server client and found I could connect and take control of the Whistler machine without problems. Only one user can be logged on at a time, either remotely or locally, but you can access files and printers from a third system without logging on. The remote user's session ends as soon as somebody logs on to the machine, so if Junior sits down for a round of Quake III while you're juggling spreadsheets from the office, you're doomed.

As with other Whistler innovations, there's nothing terribly new here. The whole thing runs using Windows Terminal Services, a multiuser remote control system that Microsoft licensed from Citrix a few years back and tacked onto Windows 2000 Server. Though the corporate version of Terminal Services was too expensive to catch on in a big way, this personal version could be popular with telecommuters, frequent travelers, and late-night workaholics.

Microsoft Promises More

Microsoft has promised that many of Windows Me's innovations (see "Windows Millennium Edition: All About Me") will show up in Whistler, but most are missing from Build 2250. Though Windows Movie Maker probably won't end up in the Windows .Net Professional product, business users could benefit from Windows Me's networking wizard, Windows Media Player 7, and the System Restore rollback utility--all missing in Build 2250.

Those features may show up in Whistler Beta 1, due later this fall, as may two other interesting no-shows: speech and handwriting recognition. Build 2250's Control Panel contains an applet labeled Speech v5.0 that bears grayed-out Vocabulary Builder and Vocabulary Editor buttons. Further exploration causes a crash, and speech recognition appears to be completely disabled in this build. System-level support for speech recognition in Windows, however, could be the factor that finally makes talking to your computer commonplace. (Cubicle-farm denizens may want to start campaigning now for an office with a door.)

Likewise, handwriting recognition is a disabled option in a text-input settings box in Build 2250. But if it's anything like the brilliant handwriting-recognition software in the Pocket PC OS, Windows.net could make a new generation of high-powered, handheld tablet PCs a reality.