Windows 2000 code finalized, sent to manufacturing

IT executives will get hands on software on Feb. 17.

By John Fontana
Network World Fusion, 12/15/99

It's been three years and one name change, but Windows 2000 is finally ready.

Microsoft today unveils the final code for the most important product in the company's history, Microsoft Vice President Jim Allchin announced in a morning news conference. Allchin said Windows 2000, which includes such key technologies as Active Directory, IntelliMirror and Kerberos security, was released to manufacturing (RTM) in the U.S., Europe and Asia. RTM means the code is final so CDs can be pressed, documentation printed and product boxes built and packed.

Windows 2000 will be generally available on Feb. 17, including Professional, the desktop version, and Windows 2000 Server and Windows 2000 Advanced Server. The high-end DataCenter version is expected to ship in June 2000.

The job of IT executives now is to ensure they are at least running RC2 of the beta code on the domain controllers they plan to upgrade. For deployments of Windows 2000 as application servers, users can upgrade from RC1 or RC2, according to Brian Valentine, the senior vice president of the Windows Division and the leader of the Windows 2000 development team.

Windows 2000 represents Microsoft's attempt to drive its operating system deep into the core of enterprise networks, a place where Unix servers and mainframes have been king.

"This marks an important milestone for us, this is the most widely tested product in our history," Allchin said. The beta included some 750,000 testers. "We said we would not ship until the product was ready and we feel we have delivered on our design goals and shipping criteria," Allchin said. " The thing we have focused on is reliability."

In addition to reliability, Allchin said the design goals included availability, management of desktops, creation of a Web-based platform, and the combination of the best of the Windows 98 client and NT server. Microsoft also had met its shipping criteria, which included support for existing applications and stress testing.

Microsoft said 5,000 applications and 4,000 hardware systems are now on the Windows 2000 compatibility list. Only four applications, however, have been certified as compatible.

Valentine said the top 100 customers signed off on final code for Windows 2000 on Monday.

"It took us awhile to get here because we were weren't willing to compromise [on quality]," Valentine said. Nearly 50,000 desktops and 1,100 servers run by customers in Microsoft's Joint Development Program helped ensure that quality. He also said OEM partners played a large role in quality assurance. Allchin and Valentine also thanked Microsoft's development team numerous times for its work.

It all started in October of 1996, when Allchin handed alpha code to 3,500 developers of what was then called NT 5.0. Since then, Microsoft has been on a roller coaster that has included numerous delays, an additional beta cycle, and the juggling of product managers and executive staff.

Beta 2 and Beta 3 of the software were delayed and between those betas, Microsoft changed the name of the product to Windows 2000.

On November 17, some 16,000 top-level beta testers began sifting through the third and final release candidate (RC3) searching for recall class bugs.

"They made some tweaks but there were not many changes," says Rob Enderle, an analyst with the Giga Information Group in Cambridge, Mass. "It was fairly clean from RC3 to RTM, but we won't know the final results until the first large set of enterprise deployments."

Observers say that the desktop version of Windows 2000 has been ready to go since September, but that changes to the server side, including the removal of some load-balancing features, have been ongoing.

Allchin said several key factors have shown the software is ready, including an extensive deployment within Microsoft where nearly 54,000 machines are running the software in production. Allchin said Microsoft has run stress tests on Windows 2000, including simulations where 1,500 machines process three months worth of transactions overnight.

Related links

Windows 2000 Platform
Product overview

Microsoft sets pricing for Win 2000
Network World, 11/15/99.

Fusion Focus: Win 2000: It's new, it's big! Is it secure?
10/27/99.