October 28, 1999 Web posted at: 9:37 a.m. EDT (1337 GMT) by Bob Trott

From...

SEATTLE (IDG) -- Ending years of industry speculation, Microsoft will launch the much-anticipated Windows 2000 on Feb. 17 at the IDG World Expo's Windows 2000 Conference and Expo, the company has confirmed.

As expected, the client/server upgrade to Windows NT 4.0 will not hit the market in time to see widespread availability in 1999. Microsoft officials told some 600 attendees at its Partners Marketing Day in Las Vegas this week that Windows 2000 would be released to manufacturing in 1999 to meet the Feb. 17 goal.

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"While we are working closely with the industry to prepare solutions for retail availability in mid-February, we stand firm on our commitment to release Windows 2000 only when our early-adopter customers agree it's ready," Deborah Willingham, vice president of the Business Enterprise Division at Microsoft, said in a statement released by the company.

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The product currently is at the Release Candidate 2 (RC2) stage, with RC3 expected to be released around the Comdex time frame in mid-November. Beginning with Chairman and CEO Bill Gates' Sunday evening keynote speech, the company's presence at Comdex will be dominated by its Windows 2000 marketing machine.

Bob Trott is an InfoWorld associate news editor based in Seattle.