Despite attempts to jazz up Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates_ keynote with music, videos, and second-rate celebrities, the official Windows 2000 launch was painfully boring.

Attempts were made to break up Gates_ hour-and-a-half long presentation with appearances by Patrick Stewart and skits featuring the actor who played J. Peterman on Seinfeld, but the weak jokes and low-power wit couldn_t relieve the crushing tedium. The endless show chiefly consisted of benchmarks casting the new operating system in a glowing light. Some of the more technical journalists in the audience afterwards claimed some of the benchmarks to be highly suspect. About an hour in, many of the reporters sitting in the front rows had run out of steam. Most had stopped writing, some were fidgeting with their watches and one had her head in her hands. The highlight of the show was seeing the Microsoft cheerleaders miss their cues.