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Windoze2000: Drones Congregate for Launch Party


On February 17, 2000, Microsoft announced its business suite for Windows2000 in San Francisco, with 57 “satellite” parties tuned in in various cities throughout the United States and Canada.

Philadelphia is reputed to have hosted the largest party–7200 attendees in all.

As many of our loyal readers know, Go2mac.com headquarters are in Philadelphia. We knew something was up–we could hear the mindless applause from ten miles away. As the Philadelphia Inquirer reported today:

People were not applauding [Bill Gates’] tieless, rumpled look, nor the running Star Trek jokes between Gates and his cohost, actor Patrick Stewart.

They were clapping for his slides. They cheered his bar charts. They marveled at his hardware and software demonstrations.

This was a crowd that erupted upon learning that a Windows 2000 stress test had been running for 90 days – and counting – without a reboot. That was nothing compared with their reaction to the improved Plug and Play features of Windows 2000, and the latest benchmark performance numbers for running SAP R/3 software.

A wall of Dell workstations running a Web site got as much applause as Billy Crystal at the Oscars

We’re flummoxed. Apple folk may applaud with wild abandon, but at least we don’t applaud for walls. Or for the fact that the operating system (gasp!) actually booted and stayed that way for a while.

It’s a strange world out there. But it’s nice and cozy in here. Come, have a cup of coffee, stay for a while.

By Jason O'Grady

Founded the PowerPage in 1995.