Windows 97 Due By End-1997, Says Microsoft

Microsoft developers hope to release an update to the

Windows 95 operating system by the end of the year despite industry reports that the release date has slipped into 1998, officials say.

The system update code-named Memphis is officially on track, and Microsoft has rebutted suggestions that the release date would be put back to 1998.

The update will integrate the Internet Explorer 4.0 interface into the operating system graphical user interface. That could mean the final blow to Netscape Communications, whose netscape Navigator browser still reigns supremen in the browser market. But such tight integration of the browser could also mean new problems surfacing.

Such as new security bugs. The Mephis pre-beta was supposed to released early last month, but a secret test relaese by Microsoft brought up a hundred security issues, forcing Microsoft to push the date back. Navigators lack of such thorough integration into the

Windows interface could also mean that it would be relatively safer, and contrary to Microsofts strategies, could bring people into its fold.