Windows 2000 (redirected from MS Windows 2000)

Windows 2000

Also called "Win2K" and "W2K," Windows 2000 was a major upgrade to Windows NT 4, launched in early 2000. Available in one client and three server versions, Windows 2000 added support for Plug and Play. It used the same interface as Windows 95/98, but added considerably more features, dialogs and options.

From NT Domains to Active Directory
Windows 2000 supported Active Directory, which replaced NT's domain system and made network administration simpler. This was a major redesign of the directory structure for companies. More stable than NT, Win 2000 was designed to eliminate erroneous replacement of DLLs when applications were installed (see DLL hell).

Versions
Windows 2000 Advanced Server was similar to Windows NT Server, Enterprise Edition, which supported clustering and automatic failover in the event of a system failure. Windows 2000 DataCenter Server supported more advanced clustering and was the top server offering. Windows 2000 Professional was the client version. See Windows, Windows Server 2003, Windows NT, Windows XP, Active Directory and Plug and Play.

   Windows 2000                 SMP
   Version              Use     Support  RAM

   Professional         Client           2GB

   Server               Server  4-way    2GB
   Advanced Server*     Server  8-way    8GB
   DataCenter Server*   Server  32-way  64GB

 *Supports clustering, failover and load balancing

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(operating system)

Windows 2000 - (Win2k, W2k, NT5, Windows NT 5.0) An operating system developed by Microsoft Corporation for PCs and servers, as the successor to Windows NT 4.0. Early beta versions were referred to as "Windows NT 5.0". Windows 2000 was officially released on 2000-02-17. Windows 2000 is most commonly used on Intel x86 and Pentium processors, with a DEC Alpha version rumoured. Unlike Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000 is not available for PowerPC or MIPS. Windows 2000's user interface is very similar to Windows 95 or Windows NT 4.0 with integrated Internet Explorer, or to Windows 98. It is available in four flavours: - Professional: the client version, meant for desktop workstations, successor to Windows NT Workstation. - Server: "entry-level" server, designed for small deployments, and departmental file, print, or intranet servers. - Advanced Server: high throughput, larger scale servers and applications, and small to medium scale websites. - Data Center Server: software for large-scale server clusters (in development as of 2000-03-14). New features in Windows 2000 include: - Active Directory. - Greatly improved built-in security mechanisms, including Kerberos-based authentication, public key support, an encrypting file system, and IPsec support. - Integrated web browser - Internet Explorer 5.0. - Integrated web server - IIS 5.0 - Terminal services for displaying application interfaces on remote computers (similar to X-Windows). - File protection that prevents user programs from accidentally deleting or overwriting critical system files. - Improved hardware support, including Plug-and-Play, DVD, IEEE-1394 (FireWire), USB, infra-red, PCMCIA, ACPI, laptop computers. - Improved user interface, including a single point to control the entire system. - Improved management tools, including remote administration. Minimum system requirements, according to Microsoft, are Pentium-133 MHz CPU, 64 MB RAM, 650 MB of hard disk space. These are for W2K Professional, others require more. Many operating systems compete with Windows 2000, including the Apple MacOS, Linux, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, NetBSD, Sun Solaris, IBM AIX, Hewlett-Packard HP-UX, SGI Irix. Novell's NDS also provides a service similar to Active Directory. Windows 2000 will be followed by Windows XP Professional and Windows 2002. http://microsoft.com/windows2000/. Usenet newsgroups: news:microsoft.public.windows2000, news:comp.os.ms-windows.