Actually, it isn't completely correct to say that XP is the successor to 2000. XP is the successor to 9x/Me
? and NT Professional, but there is currently no successor to the Windows 2000 server products. "Windows Server .Net" or some similar foolishness, is currently, I think, in beta 3. To say that XP is the successor to 2000 over-emphasizes the role of 2000 as a desktop operating system and under-emphasizes it as a network operating system. - 9jack9.
In the sense that XP was built upon 2000, you could say that it is the successor. I think that XP was supposed to replace *both* 2000 and ME, by making 2000 easier to use for desktop but keeping it powerful enough for networking. Also (I think) that .net isn't itself an operating system, but a programming-design protocall or something like that. --
sodium
Well, it's reasonable to say that XP is mostly built on the code of W2K, so in that sense it's the successor to W2K. However, it's supposed to also be the successor in the sense of "migration path" from all Windows desktop operating systems. So, does that make it the successor to W2K Pro, 9x/Me
?, or both? I dunno. Also, there are two versions of XP, XP Home and XP Professional, so you could say that XP Home is the successor to 9x/Me
? and that XP Pro is the successor to W2K Pro.
Microsoft says that the "next generation of the Windows Server family" is "Windows .Net Server Beta 3". They also refer to "Microsoft's .Net vision", which includes pretty much everything, including Windows server versions, server applications, programming platform, and Internet-based services. - 9jack9.
- ... does that make it the successor to W2K Pro, 9x / Me, or both?
My understanding was that it was both, including large-scale networking. I suppose .Net must be the next generation of windows, but I think it will be a few years before it comes out (whatever Microsoft claims). --
sodium
Which leads me to the conclusion that brief discussions of successor in the article doesn't add a lot of value, unless it tries to detail all of these things.
-9jack9.
Windows XP was defined by microsoft as a "convergence". The difference between home and professional seems to be an artificial contrivance by microsoft like the NT4 server workstation difference. They simply made two versions of the same product, but they are the same underneath. I would be more prone to define "successor" by kernel rather than by whatever functionality microsoft chooses to add as a package, so in that sense it is true successor to both 2000 and 9x regardless whether its targeted to server or desktop.
--Alan D
I don't see that it is more reasonably correct to consider successor to be defined by kernal rather than by intended use. If XP Home is marketed as the upgrade to 9x/Me
? and XP Pro is marketed as the upgrade to Windows 2000 Pro, but .Net Server is the upgrade Windows 2000 server products, I don't see how it's correct to simply consider XP the successor to 2000, and consider that the end of the story.
-9Jack9
Fair enough, but I personally don't see the superior value in chronicling the marketing strategy of microsoft rather than the evolution of their products. Name distinction is important to them as a tool to make money. If they are the same kernel underneath, that is at least notable for us. How the different products are marketed is important I agree, but I personally find this less important than how the product actually works. On the other hand, maybe this is because of the profession I am in. I'm not going to mess with the page because I think you are doing a good job, but just wanted to add my two cents.
Cheers, Alan D
Hmmm, actually, I'd think that in a comprehensive article, both the marketing strategy and the kernel evolution would be important topics. Thanks for the compliment, but actually, all I did was start the page, with about a third of what is now there. This is my first Wikipedia article, and it's a pretty amazing process. And, fwiw, professionally, the kernel impacts me a great deal, but I would think that a general-purpose encyclopedia article should perhaps include social/marketing aspects as well as technical details.
-9Jack9.
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