Calling ALL WIN2K USERS!

[kio_http]

Windows 2000 (All editions) basically is Windows Xp with much lower system requirements. Anyway its extended support is about to end without a Service Pack 5 release.

After July 2010 Windows 2000 will no longer receive updates. So what will the Win2k users here do? Update to XP/2003 R2 or Windows 7/ 2008 R2.

Please keep the discussion on topic, so no "I no longer use Windows", "I never used 2000" etc. Let current or past (who have switched) Win2k users reply this thread.

[Eisenwinter]

I'm an XP user, and see no reason to upgrade to XP, if Windows 7 is available.

Seeing as Windows XP is -9- years old (ancient in computer terms), why would anyone upgrade to it?

Windows 7, from my experience with it (used it for about 2 hours on a friend's laptop) is stable, and supports enough software.

Windows 7 also supports 64bit much better than XP did.

Of course, this depends on the hardware.

I wouldn't upgrade to Windows 7 if my machine was a ~P3 500mhz with 128MB of RAM.

I think Microsoft is doing the right thing by stopping support for it in July of this year. It's a 10 year old operating system! I seriously doubt there are that many people who use Windows 2000 (2000, we're in 2010 - 2000, 2010) as production systems.

I also believe Microsoft should stop supporting Windows XP before 2014. We have the hardware, we have the technology, there are many brilliant programmers out there. Why not take the leap forward?

Lets take advantage of what we have, instead of using 9 or 10 year old operating systems.

[Bachstelze]

What he said. I used to have a Win 2K server, but I upgraded it to 2k8 about one year ago.

[swoll1980]

I always liked win2k, but I had to upgrade my last machine that was running it to XP, because it's hard to get drivers, and software venders, aren't supporting it anymore.

[samalex]

Windows 2000 (All editions) basically is Windows Xp with much lower system requirements. Anyway its extended support is about to end without a Service Pack 5 release.

After July 2010 Windows 2000 will no longer receive updates. So what will the Win2k users here do? Update to XP/2003 R2 or Windows 7/ 2008 R2.

Please keep the discussion on topic, so no "I no longer use Windows", "I never used 2000" etc. Let current or past (who have switched) Win2k users reply this thread.

My first question is what are you running on Windows 2000? And is this workstation or server? You say 'All editions', but the solution will depend on what you're doing with the box.

For example if you're running SQL Server 7 on Windows 2000 Server you can't simply upgrade because SQL Server 7 won't work on Windows Server 2003 and up. Before looking at an upgrade path you need to see what apps you have currently and verify whether or not they will work in newer operating systems. Also hardware concerns are another problem since the requirements of newer Windows OSes are much higher then what they were in 2000.

With all this being said, I have to ask why are you still running Windows 2000? I'll be honest I thought Win 2000 and XP were the most stable OSes Microsoft ever released, which is why I still run XP myself at work and on my laptop (via VirtualBox), but with Win 2000 not supporting really any modern software I'm not sure why you haven't been pushed to upgrade already.

At any rate if you can manage to break away from Microsoft's hold I'd suggest Linux (you did post this in a Linux forum [grin]), but if you need to stay with Microsoft you might want to look at an entire refresh (hardware and software) moving up to Windows 7 and newer hardware. Because if you're still running Windows 2000 on hardware of that era, then you're setting on a timebomb. A decade of use for any system with no major downtime now'days makes you VERY lucky.

HTH --

Sam

[pricetech]

Windows 2000 (All editions) basically is Windows Xp with much lower system requirements.

Not sure where you get that, but yeah OK whatever.

I last used 2k about 2 years ago. My last install went out the door with the old Dell laptop it was on. Until then I had been using it quite regularly as a viable OS.

XP replaced it on the winders side. XP is a lot better than it was "gold" so I don't hate it as bad as I once did and have actually come to like it.

I'm more concerned with the end of life of XP since the mission critical apps we use here at work simply won't work under winders 7.

[chucky chuckaluck]

Is there such a thing as a lite version of win7?

[CharmyBee]

but with Win 2000 not supporting really any modern software I'm not sure why you haven't been pushed to upgrade already.


There's kernel extensions done by a few people to get XP-only stuff to run on Windows 2000. The 'XP-only' in most cases, is an artificial marketing blockade.

[kernelhaxor]

I'm a past win2k user .. Windows 7 is really the way to go .. I have had an awesome experience so far regarding stability and speed!

[gnupipe]

Is there such a thing as a lite version of win7?

No, and there will never be.

[chriswyatt]

No, and there will never be.

Microsoft did a stripped-down version of Windows a while back. What's to stop them doing it again?

[eriktheblu]

After July 2010 Windows 2000 will no longer receive updates. So what will the Win2k users here do?
I will continue to use until the following happen:
My employer makes web pages that are compatible with Firefox,
OR
makes pages that are incompatible with IE6 (yes, I will start VirtualBox for 1 web page)

AND

They discontinue use of XFDL forms if favor of something that cannot be used on 2K
OR
A Linux compatible XFDL filler with digital smart card signatures is developed.

If such changes are made that I can't use my current software, I will use the company's computer.

7 Starter is surprising lite for a MS distro. IIRC, it showed idle memory usage comparable to XP.

[The Real Dave]

I just gave a family a fresh install of W2K. It's by no means a good OS in my opinion, but was the only Windows that would run decently on a 700Mhz Celeron with 128Mb of RAM. Before I learned how light Ubuntu Server is, I used W2K Pro as a server, for file sharing, accessed via VNC. It worked fine, and did exactly what I wanted. My testing server jumps between different OSs all the time, from Ubuntu Server (currently 10.04 A3) to W2K3 even back to W2k Server, just for the fun :)

[kio_http]

I wonder if its possible to find ways to keep using win2k. ie keep and secure and develop patches made by the community of win2k users.

[swoll1980]

I wonder if its possible to find ways to keep using win2k. ie keep and secure and develop patches made by the community of win2k users.

Yeah if Microsoft releases the source code.

[juancarlospaco]

Is there such a thing as a lite version of win7?

Yes, Pirated, you see it on Torrentz, 600Mb.
I was hoping that 7 being more hard to Crack :(

[darrelljon]

Yeah if Microsoft releases the source code.

Well, Windows communities already exist around old versions, keep them secure, develop patches and even whole unofficial service packs etc. The main community is MSFN where you will find users currently using Windows 98 patched with unofficial Service Pack 3. You can even use Windows XP software on Windows 98 with software called KernelEx. They baulk at using anything else other than 98 on their Pentium 3s. They will tell you when official support ends, hackers have long since stopped targetting these systems and that the systems are well-documented for closed-source anyway.

[kio_http]

Well, Windows communities already exist around old versions, keep them secure, develop patches and even whole unofficial service packs etc. The main community is MSFN where you will find users currently using Windows 98 patched with unofficial Service Pack 3. You can even use Windows XP software on Windows 98 with software called KernelEx. They baulk at using anything else other than 98 on their Pentium 3s. They will tell you when official support ends, hackers have long since stopped targetting these systems and that the systems are well-documented for closed-source anyway.

Sounds interesting, whats the probability of such stuff coming out for 2000. I mean theoretically as long as XP is alive if should be possible to maintain win2k. (Windows 2000 is NT 5.0 and Windows XP is NT 5.1)

[uRock]

Windows 2000 helped cause me to find Ubuntu. I couldn't get IE7 on it and my school's site is not compatible with IE6. Xubuntu was the cure.

[kio_http]

Windows 2000 helped cause me to find Ubuntu. I couldn't get IE7 on it and my school's site is not compatible with IE6. Xubuntu was the cure.

So you knew about Ubuntu at that time but not firefox??

[uRock]

So you knew about Ubuntu at that time but not firefox??

Why keep a useless OS around when I could put an up to date OS that didn't use up all of the RAM onto the laptop. The laptop had 396MB RAM. Firefox looked like crap when run within W2000.