Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What is Windows Millennium Edition?

A: The successor to the Microsoft^® Windows^®   98     Second Edition operating system, Windows Millennium Edition (Me) is the upcoming version of Windows designed specifically for home users.

Q: What will Windows Me deliver?

A: With Windows Me, Microsoft Corp. intends to take the first steps toward delivering on the Windows Division’s vision of simplifying PC operation for first-time users and enhancing existing users’ experiences by enabling new computing scenarios. The main goal is to improve the consumer PC experience over the next several years, specifically in the areas of digital media, the online experience, home networking and PC health.

The first steps toward realizing this vision will come through the progress Windows Me makes in the following areas:

Digital media. Digital media is becoming increasingly popular, as illustrated by exponential growth in areas such as Web-based music and digital photography. The Windows Division will focus on enabling consumers to take advantage of such new content, making it easy to access, play, view and store it, as well as providing consumers with an enhanced PC gaming experience.

Online experience. Providing consumers with a premier home online experience is a primary goal of the Windows Division. This means enabling consumers to easily connect to the Web, locate desired content, and determine what content is acceptable for their family to view.

Home networking. With more than 15 million households owning two computers, the cost of new PCs dropping, and intelligent hardware devices being created, home networking is becoming more of a reality. The Windows Division will work to simplify the process of connecting multiple computers to share information and an Internet connection, and will provide the infrastructure for connecting different intelligent devices to a PC.

PC health. The Windows Division is committed to providing consumers with a solution that is easier to use and maintain, from the minute they start their PC throughout their daily computing experience. The Windows Division will deliver on this promise by advancing PCs’ self-healing functionality and providing a simpler setup and great out-of-the-box experience for new computer users.

Q: What is the timing for Windows Me?

A: Windows Me is currently in its second beta, and Microsoft is committed to delivering a final version later this year.

Q: Why would someone choose Windows Me over Windows 2000?

A: Windows Me will include enhancements that are typically of interest to home PC users. Specifically, the areas of PC health, digital media, home networking and the online experience are highlighted in Windows Me. In addition, many home users may find that their most frequently used software applications will not run on Windows 2000.

Q: What are the differences between Windows 2000 and Windows Me?

A: Windows Me is consumer-oriented and will incorporate enhancements of interest to home PC users, whereas Windows 2000 was developed for business users.

Windows Millennium Edition ("Windows Me") FAQ

Microsoft's Windows Millennium Edition ("Windows Me") recently reached Beta 3 and the company expects to release this consumer operating system to manufacturing on June 13, 2000. If you have a question that isn't answered here, send it along and I'll do my best to answer it.

NEW: This FAQ has been updated for Windows Millennium Release Candidate 0 (RC0)! New questions generally appear near the bottom of the FAQ.

Q: What is Windows Millennium Edition ("Windows Me")?

A: Windows Millennium Edition ("Windows Me") is the next version of Consumer Windows, following Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows 98 Second Edition (SE). It is based on the Windows 98 kernel, not the Windows NT/2000 kernel. Don't believe rumors that Windows 2000 and 98 are being "merged" to create Windows Me; this isn't true.  A future version of Consumer Windows, code-named "Whistler," will be based on Windows 2000, but this product isn't expected until 2001 at the earliest.

Think of Windows Me as "Windows 98 Third Edition." It's a simple minor release of the old Windows 9x line with no major new features. The user interface makes it look like Windows 2000, but it's all 98 under the covers.

"Millennium is going to be a very significant release for home users," says Microsoft's Shawn Sanford. "We're really working toward simplifying the computing experience for home users."


Q: What's with the name? Why didn't they just call it Windows 2000 Consumer Edition or whatever? 
A: There are many reasons for the name of this product, which probably would have been called Windows 2000 had Microsoft not already taken this name for the next version of Windows NT. Basically, in late 1998, it seemed that the Windows 9x line would come to an end with Windows 98 SE. Microsoft was planning a future consumer Windows release, dubbed "Neptune," that would be based on Windows 2000 and would hopefully ship sometime in the year 2000. So, in late 1998, the company announced that Windows NT 5.0 was being renamed as Windows 2000 in a bid to continue the popular Windows name. However, in early 1999, delays in Neptune and an internal reorganization caused Microsoft to rethink its cancellation of the Windows 98 product line and the company announced in mid-1999 that it would be releasing yet another version of Windows 98. The project was codenamed "Millennium."

Because Windows 2000 was geared solely toward business users and Neptune was so far behind schedule (so far behind, in fact, that the project was cancelled in January 2000), Millennium would be designed solely for consumers. That means that, unlike Windows 98, none of the features in Millennium would be applicable to businesses at all. This narrowing of the product's target market allowed Microsoft to focus on only those technologies that would be applicable to home users, but the name that this product would eventually use was still up in the air. In December 1999, Microsoft began shopping the phrase "Windows Me" around (that's "Me" as in "Millennium Edition" and "Me" as in "I") and the name stuck.  In January 2000, the company decided on Windows Millennium Edition ("Windows Me") as the final product name for this last version of Windows 98. And the phrase "Windows Me" will be used in advertising for the new product.

"The name Windows Millennium Edition, or Windows Me, will help Microsoft to clearly identify this next iteration of the OS as the Windows version designed specifically with the home user in mind," says Microsoft Windows Group Product Manager Shawn Sanford.

Q: So how will Windows Me differ from Windows 98? 

A: Windows Me differs very little from Windows 98, since it is simply the latest release in the 9x family. It features a new TCP/IP stack, a System Restore feature, silent installation of USB keyboards, mice, and hubs, a Movie Maker application for recording, editing, publishing, and organizing audio and video content, the removal of Real mode DOS, and a number of other small improvements. Beta builds of "Millennium" (the code name for Windows Me) look similar to Windows 2000 Professional on the surface, but are virtually identical to Windows 98 otherwise. Microsoft says that Windows Me will focus generically on the following technologies:

Digital Media and Entertainment: 

Online Experience: 

Home Networking: 

"It Just Works": 

"The Consumer Windows Division is focused on truly making computing easy for consumers," says David Cole, vice president of the Consumer Windows Division at Microsoft. "We are ... on the path toward delivering a version of Windows specifically designed to enable consumers to take full advantage of their PCs in the 21st century."


Q: When will Windows Me be released?  UPDATED!
A: Microsoft plans to ship Windows Me on June 13, 2000.


Q: I've heard of a Microsoft Research project called "Millennium." Is this the same thing?
A: No. Microsoft Research is currently working on a prototype operating system called, unfortunately, Millennium, which was absolutely nothing to do with Windows Millennium Edition ("Windows Me"), the upcoming version of Consumer Windows that Microsoft is currently testing. The Microsoft Research project is designed for a future of ubiquitous networking with machines that interact with their users in ways that are just not possible today.


Q:  I heard that Windows Me would not use DOS as its base and would, in fact, be a full 32-bit operating system like Windows NT. Is this true?
No. Windows Millennium Edition, like Windows 95 and Windows 98 before it, is based on DOS and is therefore a 16/32-bit operating system. Microsoft is doing what it can to hide the MS-DOS prompt in Windows Me in an effort to simplify the OS, but DOS is as fully entrenched in Windows Me as it was in earlier versions of Windows 9x.

What's missing in Windows Me is support for 16-bit Real Mode DOS, which is rarely, if ever, used anymore anyway.


Q: So will my DOS games like DOOM and Duke Nukem 3D still run in Millennium?
A: Yes, absolutely. Every DOS game should run in Windows Me.


Q: I heard that Windows Me is "code sharing" with Windows 2000. Does this mean that Windows Me is part of the Windows 2000 family of products?
A: First of all, Windows Me is not "code-sharing" with Windows 2000, other than superficial user interface enhancements. The core of Windows Me is based on Windows 98, not Windows 2000. Windows Me nothing to do with Windows 2000 and is not part of the Windows 2000 family of products. Windows Millennium Edition is, rather, a way to extend the Windows 9x line on more year so that Microsoft can increase its revenue stream by releasing yet another version of Windows while it waits for Whistler (a future Consumer Windows based on Windows 2000) to come together.


Q: What about legacy I/O devices, such as ISA cards and the like?
A: Windows Millennium Edition will still support legacy I/O devices, though you'll have to jump through some hoops to get them installed because Microsoft has implemented a new driver signing scheme to ensure the integrity of all drivers installed on the system. Microsoft did this for a good reason--improperly written drivers are the single biggest cause of instability in Windows--but they will provide a way for users to install any drivers they'd like in a continuing bid to provide the highest level of compatibility possible.


Q: What's the upgrade path for Windows Me?
A: You will be able to upgrade Windows 3.x, Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows 98 Second Edition to Windows Millennium Edition (Windows Me). You will not be able to upgrade any version of Windows NT or Windows 2000 to Windows Me. Not that you'd want to anyway.


Q: Has the Millennium beta started yet?
A: Yes. Microsoft released a "Developer's Preview" of Millennium to its top Windows 98 Second Edition beta testers in late July 1999, which is ironic, since most of these people are not developers. In September, the company released Beta 1. Then Beta 2 became available on November 24, 1999. A Beta 2 Refresh was released on January 21, 2000. On February 1, 2000, the company confirmed that this product would ship with the name "Windows Millennium Edition (Windows Me)."


Q: Who or what is "Skeeter"?
A: I have no idea. Two people anonymously emailed me this image, saying that it had something to do with Millennium. Perhaps it is a new Microsoft Agent or Office Assistant character, as some have suggested, but I doubt it: It looks to me more like the mascot for a children's Web site.

Update: David Paulsen wrote in with news that this image is, in fact, freely available from the Microsoft Office online clip-art gallery. To find it, type bugs into the SEARCH box. It comes up on the first results page.

Update 2: I just heard word that "Skeeter" is the alias for the Millennium beta coordinator, which kind of sheds new light on the whole situation. It's also been suggested that whoever is using this alias is doing so specifically to hide his/her identity so that testers cannot complain about them to their superiors at Microsoft, which I find a little disturbing. But then again, after seeing the behavior of customers in the Windows 2000 CPP newsgroups, I'd believe just about anything. If what I'm hearing is true, this person has some issues: Perhaps a word to the people upstairs is indeed called for.

Update 3: Perhaps unsurprisingly, Nickelodeon (what else?) has a show called Cousin Skeeter.

Update 4: Skeeter was revealed to be Microsoft employee Lewis Umbenhower. Mystery solved.  Or is it? :)

Q: Has the Millennium beta been cancelled?
A: I have received word several times now that Windows Millennium may very well be cancelled in lieu of "Neptune", a Windows 2000-based Consumer Windows that was originally slated to appear after Millennium. However, it appears that Microsoft is moving forward with Millennium and will release the OS in mid- 2000, possibly only with new PCs. Microsoft assured me recently that Millennium is on target. Interestingly, Neptune was cancelled instead, and the version of Consumer Windows that will follow Millennium is now known as "Whistler." See my Whistler FAQ for details.


Q: Will Windows Me support multiple microprocessors (CPUs)?
A: No, because Windows Me is simply the next version of Windows 98, it is based on the Windows 9x kernel, which does not support multiple processors. To use two or more processors in the same machine, you'd need to run Windows 2000.


Q: Will there be a version of Plus! for Windows Me? 
A: No.  Though Microsoft released Plus Packs for both Windows 95 and Windows 98, Windows Millennium Edition is only a point upgrade to Windows 98, as is Windows 98 SE. So there's no need for a new Plus Pack. However, there is some good news: Virtually every single feature of Plus! 98 is included Windows Me already. So there's really no need to buy Plus! 98 if you're getting the new Windows.


Q: Will there be a new Resource Kit for Windows Me?
A: No.


Q: How can I get Windows Me?  Is there a beta version somewhere that I can download?  UPDATED!
A: No, sorry. Microsoft has decided not to allow consumers to purchase a preview version of Windows Me. The only way to get Millennium betas is to be part of the beta test, an MSDN Universal or Professional subscriber, or a TechNet Plus subscriber. Contrary to comments made by the Millennium beta coordinator, Microsoft was not going to provide MSDN subscribers with Millennium, but the company changed its mind after an article I wrote in WinInfo caused hundreds of complaints to pour in. I received an apology from Microsoft's PR firm about the incident.


Q: What are the minimum hardware requirements for Windows Me?A: Microsoft says that a Pentium 150 or better with at least 32 MB of RAM is the minimum system required to run Millennium. However, I recommend at least a 300 MHz Pentium II processor with at least 64 MB of RAM.


Q: What's new in Windows ME Beta 3?  NEW!
A: Microsoft added a new version of its media player, Windows Media Player 7, that features a skinnable user interface and playlist support. A Windows Rights Manager ensures that none of your personal information is ever over the Internet to Microsoft or other companies unless you first authorize such a transfer. The Task Scheduler program doesn't display a tray icon by default. And Beta 3 includes a new version of Windows Script Host, version 5.5.

Meanwhile, several components have been updated since the Beta 2 Refresh. The Movie Maker application now includes numerous new features, such as the ability to take snapshot images of movie still frames. Hard drives no longer spin down when the computer is rebooted, so that the drives don't get worn out quickly. USB support has been upgraded substantially as well, and certain classes of USB devices--such as mice--no longer pop up a dialog when plugged in and unplugged.


Q: What's new in Windows Me Release Candidate 0 (RC0)?   NEW!
Virtually nothing, other than quality improvements and very small changes. Windows Media Player 7 has been updated substantially, however, with new features and a new Windows Me skin. From here on out, Windows Me is pretty much set in stone: There won't be any new features and only major bugs will be fixed.