“While IBM will support Microsoft’s upcoming Windows 2000 in
accounts both large and small, company officials Monday said
Microsoft must make several improvements to the
much-anticipated operating system before it works and plays well in
multivendor corporate environments.”
“…needs to add a proven synchronization capability to Windows
2000’s Active Directory so it works with other industry standard
Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) directories.”
“…needs to improve the interoperability of the operating
system’s Kerberos with DCE Kerberos, as well as allowing the
Microsoft Management Console to work more flexibly with competitive
products.”
” ‘These problems need to be addressed before Windows 2000 can
smoothly be integrated into multivendor environments,’ said Pat
Gibney, IBM’s director of Windows 2000 Systems, in Raleigh. Gibney
said he does not doubt Microsoft will eventually provide solutions
for these problems, such as the DirSynch framework allowing it work
with other LDAP directories, but these solutions will not find
their way into the operating system until later versions.”
“Company officials promised that all 300 plus applications the
company has in its portfolio will ‘tolerate,’ or be compatible
with, the 32-bit operating system on day one. Over the course of
the first 12 to 24 months after Windows 2000 ships, all 300 or so
applications will be fully exploitive.”