Microsoft chairman Mr Bill Gates introduced Windows 2000 in Los Angeles yesterday and admitted that there would be some compatibility problems for users who try to upgrade from Windows NT. However, he predicted that it would be adopted by nearly all businesses in a matter of time.
Mr Gates responded to a recent report from consultant Gartner Group that not all existing NT software would run on the new system.
"I think it's fair to say that one in four customers may have some issues as they move up, but the benefits are very dramatic," Mr Gates said. The compatibility issue would not stop users from adopting the software, he said.
At an official unveiling, broadcast to more than 100 US cities, Mr Gates announced worldwide availability of the Windows 2000 Professional, Windows 2000 Server and Windows 2000 Advanced Server operating systems.
The company is attempting, with the new software, to move further into the high-end computer server market where Sun Microsystems has been dominant, and to make its software more in tune with the Internet.
He declared the software "the first in the greatest generation of products ever released by Microsoft".
Mr Gates predicted customers of Windows 2000 would receive significant advantages over alternative platforms.
The existing software, Window NT, has been maligned by some software developers and users as too prone to crashes and not well-suited for big computer networks.
"Today we unveil the future of computing," he said. Mr Gates was flanked by actor Patrick Stewart of Star Trek Next Generation fame, a giant 40-foot laptop and rock musician Carlos Santana and his band as he unveiled the new operating system.
Meanwhile, in Moscow, street hawkers' stalls were filled with Windows 2000 disks, as they have been for months thanks to industrious pirates. Microsoft says Windows 2000 has new features that include anti-piracy measures. The Moscow street hawkers, offering pirated test versions on CD-ROM for 80 roubles, or €2.79 instead of hundreds of dollars for legitimate version, say customers are satisfied.
Piracy is so ingrained in Russia, where ideas were long considered common property, that it is extremely difficult to get licensed copies of computer programs, audio CDs or foreign videos, since cheap illegal copies abound. Microsoft's marketing manager for Russia, Mr Gamid Kostoyev, said about 90 per cent of software sold in Russia was pirated.
