Windows 2000

Windows 2000 (also referred to as Win2K) is a preemptible, interruptible, graphical and business-oriented operating system that is designed to work with either uniprocessor or symmetric multi-processor 32-bit Intel x86 computers. more...

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It is part of the Microsoft Windows NT line of operating systems and was released on February 17, 2000. It was succeeded by Windows XP in October 2001 and Windows Server 2003 in April 2003. Windows 2000 is classified as a hybrid kernel operating system, and its architecture is divided into two modes: user mode and kernel mode. The kernel mode provides unrestricted access to system resources and facilitates the user mode, which is heavily restricted and designed for most applications.

Windows 2000 was made available in four editions: Professional, Server, Advanced Server, and Datacenter Server. Additionally, Microsoft offered Windows 2000 Advanced Server Limited Edition, which was released in 2001 and runs on 64-bit Intel Itanium microprocessors. All editions of Windows 2000 have common functionality, including many system utilities such as the Microsoft Management Console and standard system management applications such as a disk defragmentation utility. Support for people with disabilities was improved with a number of new assistive technologies, and Microsoft included increased support for different languages and locale information. All versions of the operating system support the Windows NT filesystem, NTFS 5, the Encrypting File System, as well as basic and dynamic disk storage. The Windows 2000 Server family has additional functionality, including the ability to provide Active Directory services (a hierarchical framework of resources), Distributed File System (a file system that supports sharing of files) and fault-redundant storage volumes. Windows 2000 can be installed and deployed to corporate desktops through either an attended or unattended installation. Unattended installations rely on the use of answer files to fill in installation information, and can be performed through a bootable CD using Microsoft Systems Management Server, by the System Preparation Tool.

Microsoft has marketed Windows 2000 as "the most secure Windows we've ever shipped", however it has become the target of a number of high-profile virus attacks such as Code Red and Nimda, and more than six years after its release, continues to receive patches for security vulnerabilities on a near-monthly basis.

History

See also: History of Microsoft Windows

Windows 2000 is a continuation of the Microsoft Windows NT line of operating systems, replacing its predecessor, Windows NT 4.0. Originally called Windows NT 5.0, then Windows NT 2000, Microsoft changed the name to Windows 2000 on October 27, 1998 It was also the first Windows version that was released without a code name, though Windows 2000 Service Pack 1 was codenamed "Asteroid" and Windows 2000 64-bit was codenamed "Janus" (not to be confused with Windows 3.1, which had the same codename). The first beta for Windows 2000 was released on September 27, 1997 and several further betas were released until Beta 3 which was released on April 29, 1999. From here, Microsoft issued three release candidates between July and November 1999, and finally released the operating system to partners on December 12, 1999. The public received the full version of Windows 2000 on February 17, 2000 and the press immediately hailed it as the most stable operating system Microsoft had ever released. InformationWeek summarized the release "our tests show the successor to NT 4.0 is everything we hoped it would be. Of course, it isn't perfect either." Wired News later described the results of the February launch as "lackluster". Novell was not so impressed with Microsoft's new directory service architecture as they found it to be less scalable or reliable than their own Novell Directory Services (NDS) technology.

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