Windows 98 is usually included when you purchase a new computer, making the cost nominal, and both Win95 and Win98 are more stable than Windows 3.1. These features allow applications to share data. For example, using ActiveX, you can dump data gathered from a test program directly into a spreadsheet program for analysis. This feature also allows designers to write tests in several different languages and then stitch them together into one single test program. Windows NT is becoming increasingly popular for test-system applications because it's a reliable operating system that's easy to use.
Test engineers are, therefore, using it to build systems that require a high percentage of uptime.
Windows NT can also make it easier to connect test stations to a network. Linux proponents say that the operating system is rock-solid, and some companies are using it in applications, such as Web servers, that require high reliability. Critics say, however, that test-programming vendors do not widely support Linux and that it requires a Unix expert to set up and maintain. The programming language Java from Sun Microsystems has been in the news a lot lately. As a result, several commentators have held out hope that it could threaten Microsoft's de-facto monopoly on PC software.