Microsoft plays safe with Windows 2000

While Microsoft is releasing its office suite product Office 2000 ahead of time if its name is the indication, its operating system (OS) Windows 2000 is taking longer than expected.

The release of its beta 3 test was pushed to April in March this year, effectively delaying its mid-year launch by a few more months. The final test version was shipped in mid May and only a perfect finish, hitherto unheard of for Microsoft, will ensure a pre December release for Windows 2000.

This version of the Windows operating system will be different from it earlier ones which were essentially desktop operating systems in structure and feel. Windows 2000 is structurally moving towards Windows NT, a network OS. This version is expected to have many new features. It is planned to have support for Indian languages to support software development and computing in local languages.

Windows 2000 as a product is expected to be a massive and complex bundle of software coding, designed to run on anything from desktop machines to large enterprise networks. This makes it very critical for the product to score high on reliability, security and speed. Microsoft cannot forget the embarrassing crash of its previous version, Windows 98, on the occasion of its launch. Windows 2000 will have to beat that embarrassing legacy and for that any delay would be worth the price, or so it would seem.

However, Microsoft is taking a giant stride across OS technology as it plans to combine the high-end corporate computing requirements and that of desktop systems. While desktop computing requirements would be up its alley, the tough high end computing jobs have been mostly dominated by rivals like Unix. Although Microsoft's network OS, Windows NT has done well in terms of selling four million licenses so far and contributing substantially to a 43 percent jump in Microsoft's net income in the third quarter of the year (by March 31) it does not figure in the big league.

Win NT is not used in any major corporate applications and databases like its rivals Unix based machines or IBM mainframes, which account for a larger share in revenues. Win NT has not taken over the high end computing as it aspired to or as was expected in its early years. It remains more prominent in maintaining networks of desktops, file sharing and printer sharing.

In a market where Internet related services are exploding, Unix remains the popular OS with Internet service providers in areas like web services and e-commerce with its higher score on reliability, security and ease of maintenance. Microsoft cannot afford to lose out on this growing market opportunity. But then Microsoft would not want to cut a sorry figure on the 'big stage' either.