What is Windows 2000?

A. Microsoft have renamed NT 5.0 to Windows 2000 in an attempt tosimplify the product lines. Below is an extract from the Microsoft pressrelease:

Four products to make up initial Windows 2000 offerings, all "Built onNT Technology".

The company has decided to rename the next release of the Windows NT®line of operating systems—formerly known as Windows NT 5.0—as Windows2000. Now that millions of people use the Windows NT operating systems everyday, Microsoft has decided to rename its next releases to reflect their shiftinto the mainstream market and to help customers understand the products. Allcurrently released operating systems will retain their names.

The company has also expanded the Windows server line to meet customerdemand for solutions that are more powerful than Windows NT Server EnterpriseEdition and for lower cost clustering alternatives for branch-office servers.

"Windows NT was first released five years ago as a specializedoperating system for technical and business needs. Today it has proven itsvalue as the preferred technology for all users who want industry-leadingcost-effectiveness, rich security features and demonstrated scalability,"said Jim Allchin, senior vice president at Microsoft. "The Windows NTkernel will be the basis for all of Microsoft's PC operating systems fromconsumer products to the highest-performance servers."

Click here to view imageThe Windows 2000 line, which Microsoft will begin to roll out in1999, will include four products. Windows 2000 Professional is a desktopoperating system aimed at businesses of all sizes. Microsoft designed Windows2000 Professional as the easiest Windows yet, with high-level security andsignificant enhancements for mobile users. The operating system is alsodesigned to provide industrial-strength reliability and help companies lowertheir total cost of ownership with improved manageability.

Microsoft offers the Windows 2000 Server as the ideal solution for small- tomedium-sized enterprise application deployments, web servers, workgroups andbranch offices. Windows 2000 Server will support new systems with up to two-waySMP; existing Windows NT Server 4.0 systems with up to four-way SMP can beupgraded to this product.

Windows 2000 Advanced Server is a more powerful departmental and applicationserver that provides network operating system and Internet services. Supportingnew systems with up to four-way SMP and large physical memories, this productis ideal for database-intensive work. In addition, Windows 2000 Serverintegrates clustering and load-balancing support to provide excellent systemand application availability. Organizations with existing Windows NT 4.0Enterprise Edition servers with up to eight-way SMP can install this product.

Click here to view imageThe Windows 2000 line will also include the new Windows 2000Datacenter Server, which is the most powerful server operating system everoffered by Microsoft. Windows 2000 Datacenter Server supports up to 16-way SMPand up to 64GB of physical memory, depending on system architecture. LikeWindows 2000 Advanced Server, it provides both clustering and load balancingservices as standard features. Microsoft designed this product especially forlarge data warehouses, econometric analysis, large-scale simulations in scienceand engineering, online transaction processing and server-consolidationprojects.

Microsoft believes its new Windows 2000 name will help both its partners andcustomers. "The new name also serves our goal of making it simpler forcustomers to choose the right Windows products for their needs," said BradChase, vice president at Microsoft. "The new naming system eliminatescustomer confusion about whether 'NT' refers to client or server technology.Also, with our across-the-board improvements in ease of use, mobile support andtotal cost of ownership that provide benefits to so many users, 'NT' technologyis no longer just for high-end workstations." Microsoft will use thetagline "Built on NT Technology" to help its customers through thenaming transition.

The company believes that the Windows 2000 name and NT tagline will helppeople to identify which operating system will work best in their environment.And—as the name implies—Windows 2000 is ready for the nextmillennium.