Michael Dell flip-flops on Windows 2000

Just three days after he caused a 6 per cent drop in Microsoft shares after telling shareholders that Windows 2000 adoption would be slow, Dell Computer chairman Michael Dell said that he now thinks Windows 2000 is "a leap forward" and that many companies will quickly adopt it. He was delivering his opening address at the three-day Windows 2000 launch party in San Francisco.

"I think you'll see us be fairly aggressive in trying to move customers to the latest generation in technology. If customers can achieve a 20, 30 or 50 per cent performance improvement in Windows 2000, certainly we are going to be very excited to migrate customers over to that new platform. They're going to get more value from it. Added Dell, "Windows 2000 is a leap forward in providing higher levels of reliability, flexibility, scalability and manageability that businesses need to succeed in the Internet economy. I believe the adoption rate will be strong."

That sharply contrasts last week’s statement in which Dell said that Linux was gaining strength and that he didn't see ''a massive, immediate acceleration'' in business driven by Windows 2000 upgrades, also rattled investors. At the Microsoft event, dell tried to distanced himself from those words, explaining that the remarks were inappropriately linked to a Gartner report that predicts software compatibility problems with Windows 2000.

Dell, meanwhile, praised the reliability and flexibility of Windows 2000. ''This is a huge and very important leap forward in terms of what customers want from their PCs and the related products that go around it,'' Dell said. Dell also took a shot at rival Sun, saying a Dell server powered by Intel’s Pentium III chips and running Windows 2000, offers twice the performance, takes up half the space and is one-third the price of a comparable Sun system. Sun Chief Executive Scott McNealy has publicly called on the industry not to support Windows 2000, saying it is too bulky and clunky to be of practical value in a world that is moving toward ''anywhere, anytime'' computing on a range of non-PC devices.