Microsoft releases Windows 2000 to manufacturing

Microsoft Corporation announced Wednesday that it had finally released Windows 2000 to manufacturing, over two long years after it offered the initial beta of the product--then known as Windows NT 5.0--to beta testers. Windows 2000 Professional, Server, and Advanced Server editions were declared "golden master" late Tuesday evening, after Microsoft's closest business partners signed off on build 2195 as the final version of Windows 2000. Microsoft plans to launch Windows 2000 on February 17, 2000, though users will likely be able to purchase new machines with the OS long before then.

"Our customers have been intimately involved in the development process for Windows 2000 since its inception and they expect nothing less than the highest-quality, most reliable platform on which to run their businesses," said Steve Ballmer, president of Microsoft. "We've heard from our customers loud and clear that Windows 2000 is now ready to support their demanding needs, so we're proud to release Windows 2000 to manufacturing today."

Windows 2000 is designed to scale from laptops to the mightiest servers, offering businesses a compelling solution across the board.

"Today's completion of Windows 2000 represents a phenomenal team effort and would not be possible without the amazing contributions from our employees, customers and partners across the industry," said Jim Allchin, group vice president of the Platforms Group at Microsoft. "Windows 2000 is the most reliable, highest-performing operating system in our company's history and provides a platform to support customers' stringent needs for high system availability."

Windows 2000 is designed around several key concepts: Internet enabling businesses, reliability, manageability, best platform for new devices, and performance. I'll be evaluating the final release of Windows 2000 against these criteria in upcoming reviews on my SuperSite for Windows