Direct from the Microsoft web site

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® 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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