Windows 2000 is a line of
operating systems produced by
Microsoft for use on
personal computers, business desktops,
laptops, and
servers. Windows 2000 was released to manufacturing on 15th December 1999
[3] and launched to retail on 17 February 2000.
[4] It is the successor to
Windows NT 4.0, and is the final release of Microsoft Windows to display the "Windows NT" designation.
[5] It was succeeded by
Windows XP for desktop systems in October 2001 and
Windows Server 2003 for servers in April 2003.
Windows Me
was released seven months after Windows 2000 and one year before
Windows XP, but Windows Me was not intended to be, nor did it serve as
the successor to Windows 2000. Windows Me was designed for home use,
while Windows 2000 was designed for business.
[6]
Four editions of Windows 2000 were released, listed here in increasing ranking:
Professional,
Server,
Advanced Server, and
Datacenter Server.
[7] Additionally, Microsoft sold Windows 2000
Advanced Server Limited Edition and Windows 2000
Datacenter Server Limited Edition, which ran on
64-bit Intel
Itanium microprocessors and were released in 2001.
[8]
While each edition of Windows 2000 was targeted at a different market,
they shared a core set of features, including many system utilities such
as the
Microsoft Management Console and standard
system administration applications.
Support for people with disabilities has been improved over
Windows NT 4.0 with a number of new
assistive technologies,
[9] and Microsoft increased support for different languages
[10] and
locale information.
[11]
All versions of the operating system support the Windows NT file system,
NTFS 3.0,
[12] the
Encrypting File System, as well as basic and dynamic
disk storage.
[13] The Windows 2000 Server family has additional features,
[14] 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 through either a manual
or unattended installation.
[15] 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.
[16]
Microsoft marketed Windows 2000 as the most secure Windows version ever at the time;
[17] however, it became the target of a number of high-profile virus attacks such as
Code Red and
Nimda.
[18]
For ten years after its release, it continued to receive patches for
security vulnerabilities nearly every month until reaching the end of
its lifecycle on 13 July 2010.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_2000
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