Microsoft Releases Windows 2000.

Microsoft_s long-awaited new operating system, Windows 2000, contains few changes for consumers but is packed with features the software giant says will make it easier to run computer networks. With Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates scheduled to cap a three-day launch event in San Francisco by officially unveiling Windows 2000 on Thursday, the company on Wednesday touted the features of its most ambitious product to date. Gates, in his first public appearance in his new role as Microsoft_s ``Chief Software Architect'', is expected to pitch Windows 2000, which cost $1 billion to develop, as the cornerstone of his company_s grand plan to retool itself for the Internet age. The purported strength of the new system has attracted new legal scrutiny to Microsoft, which is already facing off with the U.S. Justice Department over whether it abused a monopoly in operating systems to bludgeon its rivals. Last week, the European Union_ Competition Commission said it had launched a probe of Windows 2000 to see if it would extend Microsoft_s dominance in personal computers to servers and give it a lock on the future of electronic commerce.