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Warnings put damper on Windows 2000 launch

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CIOL Bureau
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On the eve of the launch of Windows 2000, several reports suggest the software faces an uphill battle. The Gartner Group warned that Windows 2000 will prove incompatible with many existing software programs and Dell chairman Michael Dell said corporate users are not rushing into Windows 2000, in part because the Linux OS is also being considered more seriously as an alternative by many companies.



''We don't see a massive immediate acceleration due to Windows 2000,'' Dell said. The high cost involved in adopting Windows 2000 is a key factor in slowing, if not limiting adoption. In a study of a sample network of 30 servers and 5,000 workstations, Giga Information found a company would have to spend $535,000 to get Windows 2000 up and running on its servers, and another $973 per workstation - a total of $5.4 million.



Contrast that with using the free Linux OS instead, and the problem Windows 2000 become self-evident. Software incompatibility is another key issue. The Gartner Group warned this week that one in four corporations deploying Windows 2000 would run into software incompatibility problems. The company advised corporate buyers to wait with adopting Windows 2000 until at least 2001 when Microsoft has had a chance to address the bugs in the software.



Michael Gartenberg, who wrote the Gartner Group study on Windows 2000 said the project was ''not meant to be a forum to release new and major findings. This is stuff we have been saying for quite some time.'' While most analyst agree Windows 2000 is one of the better products Microsoft has ever shipped, the two-year delay probably means the product is shipping too late to protect Microsoft from an onslaught of Linux and Unix OS alternatives that are available on both the Intel and other hardware platforms. Most offer superior performance, are less bulk, and cost a fraction of Windows 2000.



Even Microsoft appears content not to set very high expectations for Windows NT sales in the early stages. "There was no way we were going to rush something out,'' said Keith White, director of Windows marketing. "We think this is the right product for the right time, and it addresses some of the key issues customers have today, including reliability and scalability as organizations grow.'' Still, Microsoft plans to spend a record $200 million hyping Windows 2000 in the coming months.

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