Microsoft has started to hint at Windows 2000 users that their time is over. They will stop making updates in July 2010, giving the users time to upgrade. The Self-Help Support and knowledge base will be taken offline around 12 months after the deadline, said Jared Proudfoot, The Group Program Manager for Microsoft Support Lifecycle. After all, the operating system will have been available for 10 years and there are two other Operating Systems at the moment and by then, Windows 7 will have been released, giving the existing users three windows operating systems to choose from. Windows Server 2000 will also have its support cut off in 2010.

Microsoft also hinted at the end to Windows Server 2003, somewhere around the same time as Windows XP, in 2015.

Personally, I am quite a fan of Windows 2000. I still use it from time to time, but not for mainstream work. It is simple and easy to use, but less geared towards the family as much as Windows XP is. The great thing is, that it can run on a low spec computer, with pleasing results, something which Windows XP, but more so Vista can’t. I’ll keep Windows 2000 installed, for the time being anyway.