Windows 2000 showcased in Bangalore

BANGALORE: The Microsoft Windows 2000 exposition held here today saw a great number of visitors. The response seems to be as good as the hype that was created by Microsoft. But one has to wait and see if many of them turn out to be buyers.

All Microsoft partners seem to have started with a positive attitude despite the negative reporting by Gartner, which claimed many bugs in the operating system and statements made by several industry leaders. The Gartner report stated that Windows 2000 would prove incompatible with many existing software programs, one in four corporations deploying Windows 2000 would run into software incompatibility problems, the competition from Linux would be great and that systems would require more processing power to deliver the same level of processing. The Gartner Group also 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.

Some of the Microsoft partners like Cerebra Integrated Technologies, APC, NIIT, Compaq commented that the product was good and with many features. Compaq, a Microsoft partner, added that the Windows 2000 was quite a fast product and has no issues of speed. Some Microsoft partners said that they had only started to work on the product, it was difficult to say if there was any problem of

speed. Another partner admitted on condition of anonymity that there was a problem of speed. "A system with Windows 2000 takes a longer time to boot. May be after a while when the users get used to this it will all be okay," he added.

Some visitors to the exposition said, "In the Competency Lab they are not showing us from the booting stage. So we really do not know whether it is fast or slow. All that they are showing us is the various features of the product." The visitors also said, "The product is bulky with many features and all the features will not be useful to everybody." Regarding speed, some visitors said, "They have told us that a minimum requirement of 64 MB RAM is a must and when they are telling us this, then we may have to

actually buy a minimum of 128 MB RAM, which is quite expensive."

Later, speaking to the Bangalore press, Microsoft managing director Sanjay Mirchandani said that care has been taken in the Windows 2000 product to reduce cases of piracy. He said that the CD will have edge to edge hologram, "which is more difficult to replicate than a Rs 100 note". "We also plan to ensure large scale availability of the product so as to reduce piracy. However, the state and central governments have to play a key role. We

have good laws in India. But, enforecement is the issue," he added.