The software giant has settled on a name for its next consumer operating system: Windows Me, short for Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition.

Referred to internally by the code name Millennium, the nickname is now official. Like Windows 98, Second Edition and Windows 98 before it, Windows Me will be available as a retail upgrade and will be loaded on new Windows-based computers. It_s due out sometime this year. Although still in development, Windows Me has already been marked by confusion and turmoil along with Microsoft_s consumer software strategy. After chairman Bill Gates publicly announced that Windows 98 would be the last consumer operating system based on the DOS operating system, the company reversed itself by releasing Windows 98, Second Edition, last year and announcing plans for Millennium. Meanwhile, the company is preparing for what is widely thought to be the company_s most stable and ambitious software release to date--the much-delayed Windows 2000. Microsoft will overhaul virtually its entire corporate software strategy starting with the Windows 2000 operating system, the company_s new chief financial officer said Thursday, and everything is on the line. "Windows 2000 is a bet-the- ranch product for Microsoft," CFO John Connors told attendees at the Banc of America Securities conference here. Making his first appearance as CFO at an investor_s conference since being appointed last month, Connors reiterated Microsoft_s plans in a variety of markets for the next several years.