NT 4.0 is definitely not Cairo. Core features planned for that massive NT update include object-oriented additions to the NT file system, a new distributed security model derived from MIT's Kerberos project and PnP support. None of these is included in NT 4.0.
One additional feature originally planned for 4.0 has been dropped: a one-time Win95 upgrade feature Microsoft said was supposed to migrate "around 100 of the most popular Win95 applications." This was more difficult than originally anticipated and won't be available until Cairo ships. In the meantime, you can run both NT and Win95 on the same system, but doing so requires separate installations-including duplicate installations of the applications you use on both systems. This is necessary because NT and Win95 don't share the same Registry data.
Other items to be added later this year include fax capabilities and Microsoft Network (MSN) support, a Web-based administration tool for NT Server, and Nashville, an extension to the Windows Explorer shell for both NT and Win95 that will integrate Web browser functionality directly into the user interface.
Setup Changes
NT's system requirements remain lofty for consumers: a 486 or better CPU (Microsoft has dropped all support for 386 processors in this release) with at least 12MB of RAM and 108MB of hard disk space for NT Workstation. Although our tests indicate NT runs under 16MB of RAM, we recommend twice the minimum-24MB of RAM and at least 216MB of free disk space. You can run NT in a smaller system, but you won't be happy with the performance.
Read the release notes before you install NT 4.0, even if you have experience with past versions. Beyond the change to NT's video architecture (which renders pre-4.0 video drivers obsolete), there are numerous changes to NT setup that can cause you serious trouble. Here are some examples: All support for the OS/2-compatible High Performance File System (HPFS) has been dropped. Support for a half-dozen older (8-bit) SCSI adapters has been moved from the base NT installation to a driver library. If you have one of those adapters, you must create a driver diskette before you install. Access to a CD-ROM, directly or over a network, is now required to set up NT-the diskette-based setup has been dropped, as has support for 5.25-inch floppy disks.
If you've experimented with the Shell Technology Preview (STP) add-on to NT 3.51, you must remove it before you upgrade to NT 4.0. When you upgrade, you don't automatically get your STP Start menu and Desktop settings (the release notes provide instructions for recovering them manually).
