Microsoft Friday announced that it has rescheduled its planned Forum 2000 event planned for next week due to the likelihood that the judge will enter his final decree in the antitrust case brought against the software giant by the U.S. government.
Forum 2000, which is designed to flesh out the details of Microsoft's Next Generation Windows Services (NGWS), was due to take place Thursday at the software giant's Redmond, Wash. headquarters.
However, Friday Microsoft issued a statement citing "strong indications" that U.S. Circuit Court Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson will enter his final decree in the antitrust case, and the company feels that "would distract attention and focus" from the Forum 2000 event. Microsoft has therefore "reluctantly" decided to reschedule the event for Thursday, June 22 instead, according to the statement.
Although Microsoft hasn't been forthcoming about what NGWS might entail, the main sweep of the services, according to analysts, is to meld the vendor's Windows operating system with the Internet. Microsoft Chairman and Chief Software Architect Bill Gates and President and CEO Steve Ballmer, along with other company executives, are expected to attend NGWS.
Microsoft can be reached at 425-882-8080 or at www.microsoft.com/. The Justice Department can be reached at www.usdoj.gov/.
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