But the Linux box crashed just once. Redmond needs such publicity for the coming e-commerce boom. And since it is about money, it will be very hard to convince anyone to use a system which even a script kiddie could compromise. But if they could get the very beta carry all the hostile traffic on the Internet, they could start spending money on advertising the fact that this very beta is e-commerce ready. If they could get both security and stability, Microsoft would have a very powerfull weapon to fight for the dominance of e-commerce market.
People still wait for a good, secure and stable e-commerce system that one can rely on.
Waste number of small businesses are waiting for something that is stable, secure, and doesn't kick the pocket as much as other e-commerce solutions. K could annihilate the entire e-commerce market within a year or two, if it is stable and secure. However, it didn't happen, but has proved that there are other solutions at least as secure as Win2K, yet much more stable. It may be or it may not be that the downtime was planned and under control, it really doesn't matter since LinuxPPC box had much less administration and still performed better. Even if you don't believe that this is merely more than a PR stunt, the facts are speaking against the Win2K beta.