Microsoft's next-generation operating system - codenamed Whistler - marks a radical departure for the software giant and its customers because the product combines the code bases of what have been, until now, separate consumer and business platforms: Windows 95/98/ME and Windows NT/2000 respectively.

While vnunet.com does not usually review beta code, this operating system has the potential to become ubiquitous for home and business computer users, so we have decided to make an exception and put Whistler Beta 1 under our labs microscope.

Following in the footsteps of the NT product family, Whistler is available in workstation - called Professional - and server versions. For this review we're looking at the first beta code of the Professional release, which Microsoft is touting as its desktop workhorse for work and home.

Our initial impression was that Microsoft has gone all out to bridge the consumer/business divide. A more friendly user interface hides much of the internal workings that average users don't need to see.

Starting installation on our test system, the product boots into the familiar blue screens that have served operating systems since Windows NT 3.51. Fortunately, interaction with these screens is brief as they're just used to set up disk partitions and offer a choice of available file systems.

As this is designed to be a multi-user system, Whistler supports the NT file system which gives security over individual files. This is used to prevent access to parts of the system depending on user status. For example, users can have their own 'My Documents' folder that remains inaccessible to other users of the same computer.

Once the disks are set up, the system boots into a much friendlier graphical installation. These screens aim to hide the intricacies of setting up a multi-user computer by asking simple questions such as: "Will multiple users use this machine?" Selecting 'yes' prompted us to enter in a list of users that need access.

For administrators, there's still the option to take a more hands-on approach and connect the computer into a domain - a centrally controlled grouping of computers - and to change network settings.

Following a lengthy file copy the operating system reboots into a new screen designed to get unfamiliar users working with the Windows interface. This screen starts with a tutorial on how to use a mouse to navigate through the menus. However, as using the tutorial requires using a mouse, it's a little redundant.

More advanced users will be pleased that this entire stage can be skipped, moving instantly on to the new login screen. This displays a list of all of the user accounts on the computer, so that logging on is just a matter of clicking on the right user name.

Unfortunately, the default settings mean that users created at installation time don't have passwords associated with their accounts. In addition, there was no 'Administrator' account, as the default settings make every new user an administrator. Fixing this involves using the control panel to administer the user accounts on the computer.

The 'User Manager' application also gives access to a new but incredibly useful feature: user sessions. This option lets one user log out without closing any of their programs while letting another user log in. The first user can then return to their session the exact way they left it. This functionality has been available in Unix systems for a long time and provides major benefits.

Switching back to the main control panel view revealed another way that Microsoft has tried to hide the complex features of Whistler: only the basic components are visible including audio and keyboard settings. Displaying anything else involves changing the view options to reveal the rest of the control panel.

But it's not just purely cosmetic changes that have been made; the start menu is designed to be smarter in the way it works. Instead of a long list of programs being displayed, only the most recently used applications appear in a short-cut box. Additional programs are then accessible by clicking on the 'More Programs' button. Fortunately, the classic start menu can still be selected if the new system seems a little restrictive.

Along with the changes made here, the task bar has also had an overhaul. One feature allows multiple instances of an application, such as multiple IE windows, to be grouped together. A drop-down menu then allows a specific instance to be selected. Unfortunately, with this beta version we couldn't actually get it to work.

The biggest changes, however, come from the way that Explorer works to browse files. From Windows 98 onwards, the operating system has had the ability to display preview thumbnails of pictures, but this has been taken a step further with Whistler.

Selecting a file displays a context sensitive menu that allows a host of different functions to be performed. For example, selecting a Jpeg picture not only displays the thumbnail, but also an additional menu that can be used to rename, move, copy or even email the file. Selecting the email function brought up a dialogue box asking if we wanted to resize the image to save on transfer times. Checking out the compression options, we could either resize to a given resolution, or we could limit the size of the file.

This option shows that Microsoft has placed a great deal of importance in connectivity to both corporate and internet networks. This can be seen further with options to send files to online sites and to synchronise local files with those stored on a remote server.

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