Certified Apps: Microsoft Halfway to June Goal
Microsoft Corp. passed the halfway point last month for its goal of certifying 100 applications for Windows 2000 by June.
With Windows 2000, Microsoft (www.microsoft.com) instituted a strict application certification process requiring vendors to make sure their applications install according to set rules, follow new guidelines for DLL files, and meet disabled accessibility requirements.
Previous logo programs, such as "Designed for Windows NT," existed as much to demonstrate momentum for the platform as to prove application quality. The goal this time is to stamp only quality applications, and many vendors initially reported surprise at the level and detail of testing that the independent Veritest (www.veritest.com) labs ran their applications through.
As of April 21, 56 applications were Certified for Windows 2000, Dave Thompson, vice president of Microsoft’s Windows Server product group, told customers late last month at the Windows 2000 Deployment Conference in New Orleans.
An additional 124 applications are in the queue to be tested, he said.
Neither of the Web sites listing applications quite backs up Thompson’s number of 56, but the Veritest site comes close. Late last month, www.veritest.com/mslogos/windows2000/certification/ showed 51 certified applications. Thirty-one vendors earned logos for 41 applications for Windows 2000 Professional. On the server side, 10 applications from 10 vendors were certified. Two of those Windows 2000 Server applications also won certification on Windows 2000 Advanced Server – NetIQ Corp.’s Application Manager Suite version 3.5 and Veritas Software Corp.’s Backup Exec for Windows NT/2000, version 8.0. Microsoft itself had not yet earned certification for any of its own applications.
The Microsoft site (www.microsoft.com/windows2000/upgrade/compat/certified.asp) showed only 45 applications, but it hadn’t been updated since April 4.
If the labs can sustain the current rate of application certifications -- 19 certified applications in the last month – Microsoft has a chance of meeting the goal of 100 certified applications in June.
Veritest has been operating with three labs. A fourth lab started in Ireland may help the company accelerate its testing.