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Technology Stocks : How high will Microsoft fly? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jill who wrote (25419)	7/2/1999 6:18:00 AM
From: William Hunt	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 74651

Thread ---Microsoft closes in on final Windows 2000 version By Ben Heskett Staff Writer, CNET News.com July 1, 1999, 6:15 p.m. PT The first steps toward final release of Microsoft's long-delayed Windows 2000 desktop and server operating system upgrade have begun. Microsoft has completed a testing process consisting of three so-called beta releases of the Windows 2000 software code. Now the company has delivered an initial "release candidate" to testers and members of the company's preview program. News of the release candidate comes nine weeks after the company delivered beta three of Windows 2000, previously known as Windows NT. After numerous release date revisions, Microsoft appears to be on track to deliver the Windows 2000 upgrade by the end of the year, barring last-minute glitches, according to industry observers. But the company's efforts to stay on a revised timetable have previously been met with skepticism from analysts. Software code is referred to as a release candidate when a company perceives it to be ready for sale. Microsoft will likely perform relatively minor tweaks to the operating system from this point forward, looking for its customers to essentially sign off on the product. The last test version was the first Windows 2000 beta that was essentially "feature complete." Windows 2000 comprises a workstation version called Professional as well as various server-side versions targeted at different corporate computing tasks. The upgrade is intended to help Microsoft play a greater role in high-end computing, a lucrative market now dominated by the likes of Sun Microsystems, IBM, Hewlett-Packard, and the former Digital Equipment arm of Compaq Computer, among others. With the release of Windows 2000, Microsoft executives also hope to blunt the inroads made by alternatives such as Linux. Among the features in Windows 2000 is new directory technology called Active Directory, and a feature called IntelliMirror that will essentially allow a user to store an "image" of his desktop on a back-end Windows 2000 server system. Analysts said the company has had ample time to make sure Windows 2000 is ready--a result of several delays in the development process. "They were able to work out the kinks beforehand," said Dwight Davis, software analyst with industry consultants Summit Strategies. Now the company will need to focus on getting third-party software developers to finalize their own products for the Windows 2000 release. "The big issue for most people has been getting applications to run on it," Davis noted. There has been some confusion among third-party developers as to requirements for Windows 2000 certification, according to Davis. Microsoft will likely turn now to those issues now that the release candidate is in the hands of testers, he said. BEST WISHES BILL