TSC Weekender: Windows 2000 Wilts
Jennifer Howze
02/19/00 - 09:00 AM EST
New Line Cinema's Boiler Room
rolls out this weekend and everybody is reviewing it -- and missing the point. Despite its fresh-faced stars, its subject is as tired and dried-out as Mike Douglas himself. Read a smarter take on the film by TSC's
brokerage reporter Caroline Humer. Get your finances in order with our Personal Finance focus, every Saturday. And when you're sitting around having cake and ice cream for George Washington's birthday, take Eugene Finerman's presidential quiz. Get all of the questions right and we'll send you a TSC
intern. (Just kidding. The shipping's much too pricey.) Insert Your Goliath Analogy Here, or the Latest From Microsoft
It's kind of like the Christmas let-down. The arrival of Windows 2000 was so hotly anticipated and awaited for a year that when it finally came on this week, it left a somewhat deflated feeling. While Microsoft popped a little Thursday -- the day of the unveiling at the
Windows 2000 Conference and Expo in San Francisco -- it was down again on Friday. Stocks of companies with competing operating systems didn't react much either, pointing to the assumption that they already had the
news priced in.
As for the system itself,
TSC's Jim Seymour dissected the
reasons for upgrading (or not). For the average home user, it's not too compelling. The system's made for business users, Microsoft counters. But on Friday, this talk was swept aside by
news of a disagreement between
Bloomberg News and
Bill Gates.
Bloomberg reported that after a videotaped interview, Gates reportedly commented to a reporter that he would open source code for Windows in order to settle the antitrust case. Microsoft disputes the account. As speculation about the outcome of the antitrust case mounts, news and rumors have bubbled up, buffeting the software giant's stock. The stock closed down Friday 1/3 to 95 1/4.
Until the government and the software giant reach an agreement, the whisperings will continue. And despite the influence of Carlos Santana -- who performed at the Windows 2000 launch -- the company is hopped up, rather than chilled out.
Kayte VanScoy, special to TheStreet.com, contributed to this article.  |
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