David Gillett wrote:

> On 28 Nov 2006 at 14:03, billhorn wrote:
>
> > I just have been handed down a couple of laptop computers. They are Compaq
> > Evo N600c’s. They have Windows 2000 Professional as the operating system and
> > I don’t have any experience with this OS. My guess is Windows 2000 Pro is
> > probably a “business orientated” operating system. I have a couple of
> > desktop computers with XP Home and I have some experience with different
> > versions of Windows 98. My question is-----is this operating system worth
> > keeping or should I look into upgrading them to XP. I checked and it looks
> > like I’d have to go with Windows Xp Professional to take the upgrade path
> > and that looks to cost about $100. What will I be missing without going to
> > XP? Will I have to buy special Windows 2000 software or will XP software run
> > on 2000?
>
>   Windows 2000 was the mid step between NT and XP.  The vast majority of XP
> software will also run on it, although some applications originally built
> for 95/98/ME will work better on XP than on 2000.  I don't believe Microsoft
> is still issuing security patches for 2000, so that could motivate an
> upgrade to XP.

In Microsoft's last monthly security briefing to IT professionals (12/13/06), it
stated that security patch support would extend through 2010 for the general
public.

On a related note, Microsoft no longer provides security patch support to the
general public for for Windows 98/98SE, Windows Me or Windows NT.

For the specific lifecycle support timeline for Windows 2000 Professional:
http://support.microsoft.com/lifecycle/?LN=en-us&x=16&y=9&p1=3071

(Extended support retired includes security patches)

For finding the lifecyle timeline for any particular Microsoft product:
http://support.microsoft.com/gp/lifeselect

Hope that helps.

mjp

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Matt Perry

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