Microsoft Outlines Plans for Whistler and Blackcomb

In an internal memo sent to developers at Microsoft, the software giant outlined its plans and strategies for the development of Whistler, the next upgrade to Windows 2000 due in 2001, and Blackcomb, which is due out in 2002. Wanting to speed up the delivery process and cut out the lengthy development cycles of the past, this new plan will accelerate development of the operating systems to new levels.

Pushing for an alpha build of Whistler by April, Microsoft has already distributed a very small number of copies of Whistler, now at Build 2200, to executives and other people inside the company. They hope to offer Whistler as a public beta by July of this year, and they hope to have it pre-installed on computers for Christmas of 2001.

The new operating system, which moves away from the Windows 9x kernel to an NT based kernel, will come in Server, Advanced Server, and Datacenter versions and most likely contain a good mix of 32-bit and 64-bit features.

Reports suggest the code-names for the projects come from a favorite spot of Microsoft Executives, Whistler-Blackcomb Ski Resort in British Columbia.