Talking about Windows 2000

The Rolling Stones' "Start Me Up" was the anthem for Microsoft's gala launch of Windows 95. But an apt hymn for Windows 2000, finally shipping this week, is the Beatles' "Long and Winding Road."

Microsoft started talking up its next high-end operating system, then code-named Cairo, in the early nineties-well before it shipped Windows NT 4.0 in 1996. After the alphas, the betas, the name changes, and the strategy changes, Windows 2000 makes its debut in the year that bears its new name. Here's what some folks said about it during its epic struggle to be born.

Name That OS, Will Ya?

Back in 1996, Microsoft suggested NT 4's successor, then dubbed "Cairo," would ship by 1997. Delays, and changes in nomenclature, kept us all guessing.

"We've pulled ahead some of the Cairo technology. We'll continue to produce a rev a year..."-Jim Allchin, Microsoft senior vice president at Microsoft, August 5, 1996

"I'm still debating the advantages of NT 4 over NT 3.51, so I can't get excited over NT 5."-Mark Newton, owner of systems integrator Computer and Network Solutions, September 9, 1996

"For now, at least, the company plans to focus Windows NT on the business market and position Windows 2000 for home use."-James Powell, Windows Magazine, November 1997

"Five thousand programmers, 250,000 beta testers, more than 30 million lines of code-even by operating-system standards, NT 5 is a project of epic proportions. Hence the delays in its development..."-Harry McCracken, PC World, November 1998.

"Microsoft may have changed the name of Windows NT 5.0 to Windows 2000 to allay industry skepticism about NT being late, unscalable, and not robust enough..."-Dan Kusnetsky, International Data Corporation analyst, November 20, 1998

"We got partway through the install and had to stop...Windows 2000 doesn't support the latest client protocol from Novell ... that's a big standstill for us..."-Todd Richter, PC specialist at Baystate Health System, August 9, 1999

"We were the ones telling [Microsoft] it needed certain features before it could be released to customers."-Sean Glenn, manager for software marketing for commercial desktops, Compaq

Hooray, It's (Almost) Here!

After the wait, is it that great? Here's a sampling of what we're hearing (and saying).

"Windows 2000 is absolutely a good thing...Microsoft has done a great job with quality this time."-Mark Margevicius, senior research analyst at Gartner Group

"An awful lot of people are going to have to upgrade or replace their [desktop] systems to support Windows 2000, and why would you upgrade the machine to a heavier OS when the trend is ... [to move] things to servers?"-Dan Kuznetsky, International Data Corporation

"We certainly recommend everyone look at it, and in general they should move towards it..."-Mike Stinson, director of product marketing, Gateway.

"We were concerned that Windows 2000 Pro's 29 million lines of code and 500 MB hard-disk footprint might make the OS dog-slow...Our fears were groundless."-Scott Spanbauer PC World, March 2000

Some quotes came from stories by IDG News Service and other PC World affiliates.

For more PC news, visit PC World Online. Story copyright PC World Communications.