Microsoft?s Zaw Flaw Forces Apps Upgrade

Microsoft has admitted that firms wanting to reap the benefits of its Zero Administration Windows (Zaw) will have to upgrade all their applications.

Paul Maritz, Microsoft VP for platforms and applications, said only one major application is truly ready for Zaw ? Microsoft Office 97.

Zaw has been designed so that applications can be run off a file server instead of being stored on every PC. But most applications require local installation procedures that modify the W95 registry, creating a number of Windows system directories with files.

Maritz said: ?It was a mistake to allow drivers to be installed in system directories and we are now correcting that mistake.?

He denied that Microsoft?s behaviour was anti-competitive, insisting that it was attempting to offer some support for existing applications in Zaw.

Microsoft announced Zaw late last year as an initiative to simplify the management of Windows-based networks.

The move was a response to the network computer model, as promoted by companies such as Oracle and Sun, which use simple administration and low cost of ownership as arguments for adopting the network computer.