Windows 2000 Code Complete
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It took three years, but the code for Windows 2000 is finally done.
The next and most important step comes next year when IT executives begin to deploy the operating system on the battlefields of corporate computing.
Jim Allchin, president of the platform group at Microsoft, called the completion of the operating system "the most important milestone in our company's history."
The milestone is a welcome sight for Allchin, who first handed out alpha code for the operating system in October 1996. In October 1998, Microsoft changed the name of the operating system from NT 5.0 to Windows 2000 and admitted it would be at least another year before the code was complete.
Last week, Win 2000, which includes key technologies such as Active Directory and a management tool called IntelliMirror, was released to manufacturing (RTM) in the United States, Europe and Asia. RTM is a vendor term meaning the code is final, CDs can be pressed and documentation printed.
Win 2000 will be generally available Feb. 17 in three flavors: Professional, the desktop version; Windows 2000 Server; and Windows 2000 Advanced Server. A fourth version, the high-end DataCenter, is expected to ship in June.
While the code is done, the jury remains out on its quality and the cost of upgrading.
"We won't know the real final results until the first large set of enterprise deployments," says Rob Enderle, an analyst with Giga Information Group in Cambridge, Mass.
A critical mass of deployments is not likely to happen until late next year, experts say.
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