Windows 2002: What's in a Name?

When it was announced that the upcoming "Whistler" Server product family would bear the name Windows 2002, BetaNews was just as perplexed as many of our readers. After all, a single code base was finally established for all Windows flavors and Microsoft had broken down the wall separating its consumer and business divisons. For the sake of avoiding confusion alone, it seemed to make more sense to follow the XP naming scheme. Many users seeking to upgrade their desktop OS ended up purchasing Windows 2000 rather than Me after years of exposure to date-oriented product releases. We at BetaNews had questions, and Microsoft's Mark Perry, Senior Director of Windows Server Marketing, had answers.

According to Perry, "Windows 2002 is an evolutionary product. We expect the marketplace of enterprise server customers will embrace the logic of naming-continuation, as the upcoming release of server family products is the evolutionary continuation of the Windows 2000 server family." But isn't Windows XP is also the "evolutionary continuation" of Windows 2000?

Drawing a distinction between enterprise and consumer varieties of the code base Perry tells BetaNews, "The name Windows 2002 is consistent with the rest of Microsoft's enterprise server naming. Microsoft felt the enterprise server customer, who is really the one to see this product, already has familiarity with the Windows 2000 name." What remains to be seen is if non-enterprise customers will follow suit and demand 2002, even if their machines come preinstalled with XP. Normal consumers will be the ones confused by copies at retail stores, not enterprise users.

Given corpoate hesitation to adopt the Windows 2000 platform and give up on Windows NT 4 however, there may be something in a name. The Windows 2002 name denotes a simple upgrade from Windows 2000, rather than a completely new operating system. Moreover, NT 4 continues to anguish, and the development of Service Pack 7 has been canceled.

Mark Perry told BetaNews, "The goal for Whistler Server is to build on the reliability, manageability and scalability that customers value in Windows 2000, while offering support for new, high-performance 64-bit hardware architectures based on the Intel Itanium processors." Still not feature complete, the "final feature set and packaging will reflect the feedback we (Microsoft) receive from customers, partners, and developers during the beta process.

It seems Microsoft may even be struggling with a name at this point. Former Microsoft Consumer Windows Division head, Jim Allchin, recently told attendees at a Windows 2000 conference that "the fat lady hasn't sung yet." BetaNews is awaiting clarification from Allchin on his remarks.

Whether or not Microsoft decides to stick with 2002, move to XP, or even digress to NT, the software giant has a long road ahead. Whistler Server editions are now slated to appear early next year and the company has been heavily criticized for sluggish development.

BetaNews would like to hear your opinion; should Microsoft continue the date-based naming schema, transition to Windows XP, or once again make use of NT? Post your comments below.