nt5

Windows 2000
NT5
W2K
Win2K
Windows 2K
Windows NT 5

   <operating system> (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).

   (2002-01-28)