APPENDIX: The Windows Environment
Windows Whistler
The next version of Windows, which may be a year or more away from hitting the shelves, is code-named Whistler. We will be hearing much about Whistler over the next year, as it is the first operating system from Microsoft to embrace the company's new Internet initiative, Microsoft .NET. Company cofounder Bill Gates has called this new initiative the biggest change at Microsoft since the introduction of the first GUI-based operating system 10 years ago. Whistler is being designed to better facilitate the running of applications in the server/Intranet environment. Also, voice and handwriting recognition technology will be built into the operating system feature set. It is expected that Whistler will come in two versions, one for the business environment (as an upgrade to Windows 2000) and another for the consumer environment (as an upgrade to Windows Me).