It's official: NT 5.0 becomes Windows 2000
By Bob Trott
InfoWorld Electric
Posted at 10:14 AM PT, Oct 27, 1998
Microsoft made the name "New Technology" old news on Tuesday by changing the name of Windows NT to Windows 2000, and announcing new packaging options for the server and client operating system.
Under the
new marketing plan,
Windows NT Workstation 5.0 will become Windows 2000 Professional, and Windows NT Server 5.0 will become Windows 2000 Server. The line "Built on Windows NT technology" will be attached to the Windows 2000 products, officials said at a news conference in San Francisco.
"This is a product that can usher you into the next millennium," said Brad Chase, vice president of Windows marketing at Microsoft.
Chase also unveiled a new iteration of Windows, the Windows 2000 Datacenter Server, that will be optimized for large data warehouses and other heavy-duty projects. It will support 16-way symmetric multiprocessing and as much as 64GB of physical memory.
In addition to Windows 2000 Datacenter Server, Microsoft will rename Windows NT 5.0 Enterprise Edition, to Windows 2000 Advanced Server.
The name change, which takes effect immediately, reflects changes to NT over the past several years, Chase said, and brings the product's name in line with other Microsoft brands, such as Office 2000.
Beefing up the "Windows" brand was a key consideration for Microsoft, where officials reportedly were not satisfied that users frequently referred to the product simply as "NT." Microsoft owns the trademark "Windows NT" but used "NT" only due to a confidential agreement with Northern Telecom.
"This makes it simple," Chase said. "It's all about Windows -- built on NT technology."
Windows 2000, now in
Beta 2
testing, will ship sometime in 1999, according to Microsoft. Windows 2000 Datacenter will ship 60 to 90 days after the other versions, Chase said. He would not divulge pricing, except to say that Windows 2000 Advanced Server likely will be priced lower than the current NT 4.0 Enterprise Edition.
Microsoft Corp., in Redmond, Wash., is at
www.microsoft.com
.
Bob Trott
is a senior editor for InfoWorld.
Related articles:
"Name game: Microsoft to rechristen NT"
"Microsoft releases Beta 2 of NT 5.0, points to shortcomings"
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