Remembering Windows 2000, Microsoft’s forgotten masterpiece

Twenty years ago, Microsoft released Windows 2000. A rock-solid, 32-bit business-oriented alternative to Windows 98 and Windows Millennium Edition, it paved the way for future consumer versions, including Windows 10. Here's why we remember it so fondly.

Windows 2000 was definitely an important release, and many people seem to have good memories of it. I personally never used it back when it was new, and I never liked Windows XP. The only Windows release I truly have fond memories of - other than 95 and 3.11, which I used as a kid and can be attributed to pure nostalgia - is Windows Server 2003. I used it as my regular desktop operating system, and it always felt more stable, safer, and faster than XP.

Regardless, like Server 2003, Windows 2000 defaulted to the utilitarian beauty that is the Windows Classic theme, something Microsoft really ought to bring back to modern releases of Windows.