Microsoft's stock price took a big hit last week after several high-profile negative comments about Windows 2000. According to a statement Michael Dell made during his company's quarterly earnings report, corporate adoption of Windows 2000 will be very slow due to compatibility problems between the new system and its predecessors. Dell also praised Linux and the momentum it has gained against Microsoft products in the server market, although he had good reason to say so since Dell Computer has an investment in Linux heavyweight RedHat Software.
Later in the same day a report was released from the Gartner Group saying that at least one in every four companies moving to Windows 2000 will experience compatibility problems with existing equipment and software. The consulting firm then reissued a recommendation for companies not to install 2000 until at least the first service pack is released, an event currently scheduled for June of this year.
When that news reached the media, Microsoft's Dow-component stock lost value significantly, dropping more than six points to close in the mid-90s. The shares dropped even more the next day, following a Sm@rt Reseller report about an internal Microsoft memo mentioning some 63,000 known bugs inside Windows 2000. MSFT prices stabilized later in the week, but they could go into another tailspin if investors don't see a wave of sales for Windows 2000 on Thursday when the Next Big Thing is released.

Instead of enacting something that would prevent bugs in their products, Microsoft has instead chosen to implement new policies intended to reduce software piracy. Thursday the company announced that CD ROMs containing Windows 2000 and Office 2000 SR1 will feature large holographic images that counterfeit operations will find hard to reproduce. Microsoft also made a change in its 'Certificate of Authenticity' stickers, and required that the sticker be placed prominently on any computer shipping with Windows already installed. Users of Office 2000 SR1 will have more to deal with than just stickers, since that program will no longer run more than 50 times without being registered.
And since the beginning of the year, Microsoft has been combating 'warez' sites that provide illegal copies of its software. The latest plan to fight that menace to society is a 24 hour per day, 7 day a week monitoring program that scans the Internet looking for software downloads. Once a suspected illegal site is located, Microsoft will contact the site host and request that it be removed. The Behemoth will, undoubtedly, be backing those requests with legal action if ISPs fail to comply.

On Wednesday the European Commission announced the launch of a preliminary inquiry into Windows 2000. According to a commission spokesman, the investigation is in response to complaints from competitors, users and Internet service providers about certain features included with Windows 2000 that could be anti-competitive in nature - using Windows' current dominance over the consumer operating system market to conquer other markets like servers and e-commerce. Based on those allegations, the commission asked Microsoft a series of questions that it must answer in four weeks. Depending on the answers given to those questions, the European commission will decide whether or not to launch a full investigation into Windows 2000. The inquiry will have no impact on Microsoft's European launch of Win2K, but if the commission finds an infringement of antitrust laws, Microsoft will have to bring the system into compliance or face paying steep daily fines until it does. Microsoft publicly expressed confidence in the legality of 2000, then blamed the investigation on complaints filed last year by Sun Microsystems.

Last year the US government passed a new law making it illegal for Internet sites to obtain personal information from any child under the age of 13. Microsoft, always ready to help the cause of privacy, has added a feature to its Passport centralized login site that can, theoretically, help sites come into compliance with the law by providing them with tools that give parents control over details their children can hand out. Unfortunately, nothing protects the children or their parents from giving too much personal information to Microsoft.

On the 9th day of February, Microsoft snuggled closer into bed with the mainstream entertainment industry by releasing a developer preview of Media Player that supports pay-per-play digital content. The full release is expected out sometime during the summer. While that will promote the legal production of music and video for the Internet, open formats like MPEG (and its MP3 variant) could very well disappear as a result.
Last week 60 people marched down city streets and through Microsoft's campus to protest corporate greed and Microsoft's effect on local property values. The protesters, dressed in black and carrying an effigy of Bill Gates, were organized by a group notorious for Seattle protests last year that led to rioting. This protest was peaceful, although one man who stepped into the road was arrested by nervous local police officers.
Hedging its home networking bets, Microsoft has invested an undisclosed amount into privately-held Itran Communications, a company that makes equipment to send data through electrical systems. Most expect Microsoft to use that network technology to connect smart appliances together, although it could eventually be used for other purposes as well.

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