Recent | Online | Vintage | Modern | Win | Mac  OS9 | DOS | Amiga | Atari ST | Graphics | Midi io | Sequencers | Roland "MC" | E-mu | Ensoniq | Akai MPCs | Samplers | Akai "S" | Roland "S"Synths | VST Samplers | VST Synths | Roland "JV" | Modules | Drums | Mixers | Timeline | HackintoshArtists | Graphics

Welcome to Oldschooldaw.com! (Online since 2014) proudly SSL-FREE! and serving vintage computers worldwide! if you are human, Register & Login to gain more access to all boards here; Some guest permissions have been limited to reduce traffic from bots and encourage registration. This website serves as a home base for any and all peoples who are interested in the topics posted here which is mostly very technical references + resources to do with music production on various home computer operating systems. If you have any information that is relevant, we'd love to have you take the initiative to contribute!

Author Topic: win2k - best windows version ever?  (Read 5701 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline chrisNova777

  • Underground tech support agent
  • Administrator
  • Posts: 9848
  • Gender: Male
  • "Vintage MIDI Sequencing + Audio Production"
    • www.oldschooldaw.com | vintage audio production software + hardware info
win2k - best windows version ever?
« on: August 19, 2014, 10:11:22 PM »
http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/classics-rock/windows-2000-pro-microsofts-best-desktop-os-ever/

Quote
What makes Windows 2000 Pro so great?

Windows 2000 Pro shipped February 17, 2000. It was a direct descendant of Windows NT Workstation 4.0. It overcame a lot of NT WS's limitations by having a wider hardware compatibility list. It added Windows 9x features such as USB and Plug And Play support. Its minimum hardware requirements of 64MB of RAM and a 133 Mhz CPU were well below hardware that was being shipped at the time, so it ran really well on just about any machine you threw at it. There was no heavy GUI sitting on top of it, so response times were almost always fast. It also included an Application Compatibility kit that allowed more DOS and Windows 9x software to run on it than could run on NT Workstation.

Windows 2000 Pro isn't perfect of course. There was no built-in firewall, which made Windows 2000 Pro more vulnerable to some viruses and worms such as Code Red. Not all hardware vendors embraced Windows 2000, which meant that older hardware would never run on it. Its default configuration left security as an afterthought.

One nice thing 2000 Pro lacked which showed up in XP was Windows Authentication. This makes installing and reinstalling Windows 2000 Pro much less of a headache than XP.

As I said to one TechRepublic member's chagrin, Windows 2000 Professional never gained a lot of traction in many business environments. In October 2001, when XP shipped and 2000 Pro had already been out a long time, Gartner estimated that Windows 9x still had about 80% of the installed base of PCs. Windows 2000 Pro only lasted 18 months before Microsoft shipped XP. That was too fast of a turnaround for some businesses that were already on Windows 98 and had ultimately decided to sit out 2000 Pro while waiting for XP to ship.

Microsoft stopped mainstream support of Windows 2000 Pro with Service Pack 4 and one Security Rollup Package. You can't get new software from Microsoft such as IE 7. That's not to say that you're stuck if you decide to use Windows 2000 Pro on an old piece of equipment however. You can still put a modern Web browser such as Firefox on it. You can also patch some of the security holes in 2000 Pro by putting a virus scanner and firewall such as ZoneAlarm on it. Microsoft will also continue Extended Support on Windows 2000 Pro until July 2010 which means that it will continue to create security patches for 2000 Pro until then.
The best there is, the best there was...

Windows 2000 Professional may be long in the tooth, but it's still a good choice for older equipment. It does infinitely more things than DOS. It overcame the hardware limitations of NT Workstation. It was way more stable than Windows 9x and could run almost all of the same software. It wasn't encumbered by the restrictions or the hardware overhead of Windows XP and Vista. With some added software and configuration changes, it's relatively secure. In short, Windows 2000 Professional may be the best desktop OS Microsoft ever shipped

Offline dawful

  • Jr. Member
  • Posts: 87
  • new to the site
Re: win2k - best windows version ever?
« Reply #1 on: December 13, 2023, 11:32:05 PM »
Best version was nt 3.5. Kind of most stable. But i agree that xp was worse than 2000. Anyway all of them were crappy as they did not have realtime kernel.

Realtime kernels can be problematic. Especially if there are background processes you don't know about. So I have to agree, that NT3.5 (and 4) where pretty good. They had less processes, that you didn't have control over. It is one of the things that makes me appreciate Win9x and Dos. In this view, 2K was mostly better then XP. But there are other trade offs. 

I like a lean and well tightened up system. Even with the shortcomings, of every system I've ever used, music was still made. Work with what you've got, until what you've got won't work. Then hack (technical not violent meaning) it to death (ditto).

There is, no doubt, advantages to a realtime kernel. But a lot of people will do okay, with out it. Avoid USB audio devices, if you can. That will reduce your CPU load and inherent USB latency. PCI/PCMCIA/Etc will almost always be lower in latency and Resources (depending on vendor drivers). For midi, serial and parallel interfaced usually do better then USB; but don't compete with internal cards. And for god sake, get rid of those antivirus programs. Disconnect from the Internet and kill all the services you can. If you aren't even on a network, kill those workstation/client services too.

Okay, maybe I'm being too extreme (unless you are a masochist, like me).