2007 – 2010retired
GOOG-411
“Free 411, sweet talker — you dialed the world and never charged us a dime”
“The serious one in the family, quietly keeping the servers running while everyone fawned over the desktop kids”
Released to manufacturing on December 15, 1999, Windows 2000 was Microsoft's major NT release aimed squarely at servers and business, succeeding Windows NT 4.0 and dropping the NT name from the product line. It brought NTFS 3.0, the Encrypting File System, better assistive technologies, and broader language support. Its Server family introduced Active Directory, which went on to become a fixture of business computing
Windows 2000 bowed out in 2010 after a decade of dependable service, succeeded by Windows XP, which notably left behind the Alpha processor support that had appeared in 2000's alpha, beta, and release candidate builds. Fittingly, the NT moniker it retired got one last cameo. Not murdered, just gently told the office lights were off.
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“Free 411, sweet talker — you dialed the world and never charged us a dime”
“It streamed your songs, shared your playlists, and quietly became the future of Apple Music.”
“It gave the world headphones as a lifestyle and never once asked us to share.”