From the web page http://microsoft.com/windows/dailynews/102898.htm

                      Microsoft Daily News

October 28, 1998

Move to "Windows 2000" family naming signals evolution of
[Windows] NT technology into mainstream

Four products to make up initial Windows 2000 offerings, all
"Built on NT Technology"

Redmond, WA--What's in a name? A lot, according to a new
Microsoft announcement.

The company has decided to rename the next release of the
Windows NT(R) line of operating systems--formerly known as
Windows NT 5.0--as Windows 2000. Now that millions of people use
the Windows NT operating systems every day, Microsoft has
decided to rename its next releases to reflect their shift into
the mainstream market and to help customers understand the
products. All currently released operating systems will retain
their names. The company has also expanded the Windows server
line to meet customer demand for solutions that are more
powerful than Windows NT Server Enterprise Edition and for lower
cost clustering alternatives for branch-office servers.

"Windows NT was first released five years ago as a specialized
operating system for technical and business needs. Today it has
proven its value as the preferred technology for all users who
want industry-leading cost-effectiveness, rich security features
and demonstrated scalability," said Jim Allchin, senior vice
president at Microsoft. "The Windows NT kernel will be the basis
for all of Microsoft's PC operating systems from consumer
products to the highest-performance servers."

The Windows 2000 line, which Microsoft will begin to roll out in
1999, will include four products.

Windows 2000 Professional is a desktop operating system aimed at
businesses of all sizes. Microsoft designed Windows 2000
Professional as the easiest Windows yet, with high-level
security and significant enhancements for mobile users. The
operating system is also designed to provide industrial-strength
reliability and help companies lower their total cost of
ownership with improved manageability.

Microsoft offers the Windows 2000 Server as the ideal solution
for small- to medium-sized enterprise application deployments,
web servers, workgroups and branch offices. Windows 2000 Server
will support new systems with up to two-way SMP; existing
Windows NT Server 4.0 systems with up to four-way SMP can be
upgraded to this product.

Windows 2000 Advanced Server is a more powerful departmental and
application server that provides network operating system and
Internet services. Supporting new systems with up to four-way
SMP and large physical memories, this product is ideal for
database-intensive work. In addition, Windows 2000 Server
integrates clustering and load-balancing support to provide
excellent system and application availability. Organizations
with existing Windows NT 4.0 Enterprise Edition servers with up
to eight-way SMP can install this product.

The Windows 2000 line will also include the new Windows 2000
Datacenter Server, which is the most powerful server operating
system ever offered by Microsoft.

Windows 2000 Datacenter Server supports up to 16-way SMP and up
to 64GB of physical memory, depending on system architecture.
Like Windows 2000 Advanced Server, it provides both clustering
and load balancing services as standard features. Microsoft
designed this product especially for large data warehouses,
econometric analysis, large-scale simulations in science and
engineering, online transaction processing and
server-consolidation projects.

Microsoft believes its new Windows 2000 name will help both its
partners and customers.

"The new name also serves our goal of making it simpler for
customers to choose the right Windows products for their needs,"
said Brad Chase, vice president at Microsoft. "The new naming
system eliminates customer confusion about whether 'NT' refers
to client or server technology. Also, with our across-the-board
improvements in ease of use, mobile support and total cost of
ownership that provide benefits to so many users, 'NT'
technology is no longer just for high-end workstations."

Microsoft will use the tagline "Built on NT Technology" to help
its customers through the naming transition. The company
believes that the Windows 2000 name and NT tagline will help
people to identify which operating system will work best in
their environment.

And--as the name implies--Windows 2000 is ready for the next
millennium.


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