Numerous news reports of the software being bug-ridden and unstable led many corporations to approach it with caution. Hence the fall in Microsoft's stock. But during the week of Nov. 6, one Wall Street analyst changed his outlook for Windows 2000 to a much more optimistic one. Whether he is correct could have huge implications for Microsoft's stock price. The answer is the server market.
Servers are the high-powered computers that run networks.
In 1993, Microsoft began its assault on the server market with the introduction of Windows NT, a new operating system for network servers. But it's too underpowerd and unstable a program for most corporations to trust with their mission-critical networks. Windows 2000 promised to be scalable and stable, while also including several snazzy new features. Microsoft's hope was to use Windows 2000 to dominate the fractured server market, which was divided by almost a dozen competing operating systems. Very few companies will adopt a new operating system during the first 12 months of its life, preferring to wait until the bugs are worked out.