Windows 2000 Not the Worst Microsoft Project of All Times...

Windows 2000 is by no means the worst Microsoft project of all times... O well, maybe just a little bit. The operating system that was designed as an integer part of the Microsoft Windows NT collection of operating systems went live on February 17, 2000. And Microsoft could not spare any effort to get rid of it as fast as possible. In October 2001 the Redmond company released Windows XP and then launched Windows Server 2003 on April 20. Windows Server 2003 was introduced as the "road ahead for Windows Server - Windows Server 2003 is the server operating system that helps you do more with less-both today and in the future."

And it's no wonder considering the perspective of Iain McDonald, Director of Project Management for Windows Server, over Windows 2000, as cited by Mary Jo Foley. "look back at all the travails of the past couple of years. But nothing was worse than Windows 2000. People outside are going and saying, "Vista this and Vista that." But nothing was worse than Windows 2000. They just don't remember. That was the worst-run project of all time," McDonald revealed.

Well, in the wake of that statement, McDonald aimed to offer an alternative view, claiming that his words didn't come out right. "However, I will say something that didn't come across from what I said. I am incredibly proud of the outcome of the Windows 2000. I think it did change the industry hugely & was the wedge that moved Windows Server to being the system that now ships as the largest percentage of servers. I was criticizing the way the release was run. Oddly, I believe I am uniquely qualified to criticize the Project Manager for Windows 2000 - seeing that was my job..." McDonald explained.

Microsoft's latest server operating system, Windows Server 2008, formerly codenamed Longhorn was also built under the directions of McDonald. Windows Server 2008 will RTM in November 2007 and will be launched at the end of February 2008. But still, the errors of Windows 2000 are still fresh in McDonald's mind.

"There were a couple of other things I see now that we did really wrong. The big one is security. It was 1999 & the web 1.0 was going strong. We wanted to make the best server for the internet - or what we thought it was in 1999. This lead us to the dumb idea of opening a bunch of ports & turning in a bunch of services that we should have left closed & off. This was fixed partially in Windows Server 2003. I think it is fixed in a big way in Windows server 2008 - especially on x64. Layers of security is the only way to do it," McDonald added.