Microsoft Corp appears to be preparing to officially launch Windows 2000 at Comdex in November and is working on its 64-bit successor – code-named Janus – which is slated for release six to eight months after Windows 2000 becomes available. Janus will enjoy a symbiotic relationship with Intel Corp’s forthcoming 64- bit Merced processor and feature major improvements to the Active Directory Services.
Windows 2000 is now on track to ship early next year. According to Merrill Lynch, Microsoft is expected to have the final beta, or Release-to-Manufacturing version out by the end of the year. Release Candidate 2 (RC2) is expected to be out early in September with RC3 following in October.
However, Janus may provide an attractive alternative to large corporate users planning to move to IA-64. Provided that the operating system’s release isn’t subject to the same kind of delays that have dogged Windows 2000 project. Although there is very little information available about Janus as yet, it appears to be similar to Windows 2000 Data Center, but with some significant upgrades.
According to the BetaOS web site, the upgrades will include failover and load balancing between adapters and will allow network administrators to merge collections of domain trees. Features that suggest Janus will be Microsoft’s major play for the 64-bit server OS market.
Meanwhile, Microsoft is also keeping busy on the consumer front, developing Millenium – the next version of its Windows 9x desktop OS series – and Neptune, which is Microsoft’s answer to what Bill Gates has dubbed the post-PC age. Millenium will feature a combined Windows 2000/9x kernel and beefed-up audio and video support. Microsoft will also remove many of the legacy features of the system and strip out most of the DOS code. The heavily web-oriented Neptune OS will find its way into set-top boxes, home networks and internet appliances.
