John Swenson
MSDN Online
November 3, 1997
Okay, so maybe Microsoft should have named its attempt to lower the total cost of owning PCs the Nearly Zero Administration for Windows initiative. No one can eliminate all the work of administering client PCs on a network. Lift one mouse finger and you've done some work. But with Windows NT 5.0, Microsoft will try to come as close as it can to creating the network administrator's nirvana of requiring as little work as possible.
The Zero Administration for Windows (ZAW) initiative is about much more than just Windows NT 5.0, however, as I recently learned. ZAW refers to a broad set of technologies that cross many product boundaries inside and outside of Microsoft. The company created the term last year to refer to a host of technologies under development throughout Microsoft, all aimed at reducing the total cost of ownership (TCO) of PCs.
Some developers may wonder what exactly is in ZAW. To begin with, ZAW is not to be confused with ZAK, the Zero Administration for Windows Kits. If you're already familiar with the Zero Administration for Windows Kits for Windows 95 and Windows NT 4.0, these are a subset of the ZAW features coming in Windows NT 5.0 and, to a lesser extent, in Windows 98. Nor is ZAW totally contained within NT 5.0. "There has been some confusion, in the sense that people sometimes think ZAW and NT 5.0 are synonymous," says Clark Heindl, a ZAW product manager at Microsoft.
Because the ZAW initiative is so broad, some developers may be unclear about what it encompasses and what they can do to prepare their applications for ZAW. Trying to grasp everything Microsoft is doing to lower the total cost of managing and administering PCs is overkill if all you want to do is to learn how to make your own Windows applications less expensive for customers to own. If you just want to make your own applications easier to manage, examine the draft recommendations for Microsoft's proposed new Designed for Windows NT 5.0 and Windows 98 logo at the Microsoft Windows Family Web site (http://www.microsoft.com/windows/thirdparty/winlogo/enterprise/roadmap2.htm). Microsoft expects the "recommendations" in the proposed handbook eventually to become requirements, so it won't hurt to start implementing them now.
One of the recommendations soon to become a requirement is that applications qualifying for the new Windows logo must provide graphical installation, properly register all their components with the operating system, auto-detect the operating system onto which they're installing, and provide a default installation path to the Program Files directory.
The flip side of the new installation requirements is the new uninstallation requirements.
Applications must be capable of completely uninstalling themselves by means of an automated, registered uninstaller. This uninstaller must not remove core components or shared components necessary to other applications.
These are just two parts of the new logo recommendations. The Designed for Windows NT 5.0 and Windows 98 logo handbook also includes guidelines for using the forthcoming Microsoft IntelliMirror technologies for deploying and maintaining applications through the Windows NT 5.0 installation service. The handbook also explains how to create "clean" Windows applications that network administrators can centrally manage from a remote location.
Examining the new logo recommendations isn't the only way to prepare for ZAW. Developers who are interested in ZAW also should get a copy of Beta 2 of Windows NT 5.0 when it becomes available, Heindl advises. The next beta will include many ZAW features missing from Beta 1.
When I started researching this column, I didn't realize ZAW encompassed so many technologies. Microsoft's Windows Administration team lists 18 "core" ZAW features due in Windows NT 5.0. These cover a range of technologies that will make it easier to install software and manage PCs, including:
ZAW will benefit users in other ways, such as allowing them to roam from PC to PC on a network (or plug in their laptop anywhere), and still have easy access to all their applications and individual desktop settings.
Microsoft is also adding ZAW technology to Systems Management Server (SMS), Internet Explorer, and even future versions of Office, among other products. PC manufacturers are participating in ZAW by building simplified, low-cost computers that meet the NetPC specifications co-developed by Microsoft and Intel.
Although many analysts "are being their typical skeptical selves" when it comes to predicting how successful ZAW will be at lowering TCO, the initiative "has created a lot of positive anticipation with customers," Heindl says.
Customers have demanded that Microsoft lower the cost of owning and managing Windows PCs. The company has responded over the past year by making ZAW a cross-product initiative that cuts across Microsoft's broad product line. Although the main pieces of ZAW aren't due until Windows NT 5.0 comes out next year, developers can start preparing today. By beginning now, developers will be ready when all the features of ZAW are finally in place.
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