I wonder. We are still using Office 2000 for the most part, and many still have Win2k machines.

From comments around me in my office nobody is desparate to upgrade.

Harry.

We've still got quite a lot of Win2K as well. We're even using Outlook 98 on our oldest machines!

Windows 2000 was launched in Feb 2000, closely followed by XP in Oct 2001 - So you can be sure that before long the presure will also be on XP users to upgrade!

The difference is that Windows 2000 was the last of the "business class" workstation OSes to be released. Windows XP was a convergence of the old "home class" and "business class" kernels (or, more accurately, a scrapping of the home kernel and a modification of the business kernel). Therefore, there will be no workstation OS hot on the heels of Vista.

Trivia: the last home-based kernel was WinMe, spawn of Satan.

And that kernel was compiled by home r simpson

Homer: (reading instructions on starting up the computer) To start, press any key. Where's the 'any' key? I see "Esk" (Esc), "Catarol" (Ctrl), and "Pig Up" (PgUp / Page Up). There doesn't seem to be any 'any key'! Phew! Boy, all this computer hacking is making me thirsty. I think I'll order a "Tab" (believing that the Tab key will bring him the beverage, places a cup near the floppy disk drive) Oh, no time for that now, the computers starting! (reading from computer)'Check core temperature' Y-E-S. 'Core Temperature normal' Hmm. Not too shabby. 'Vent Radioactive gas' N-O. 'Venting prevents explosion' Venting prevents ex-plosh-ee-on. Fine. Vent the stupid gas. (You see the gas tank, then follow it along a pipe. It comes out in a field, where gas comes out of a scarecrows hat and destroys most of the field)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King-Size_Homer

typical microsoft... next they will be cutting support to Win 2000... i think Win2k should still be around because it does the job xp pro does and goes on older machines xp doesnt!

I think you need to look at it in terms of support for a 6 (almost 7) year operating system when most of the problems issues may/can be addressed in the two subsequent releases with greater ease

And ultimately then the retirement of your Win2K certs!

You'll have to do an upgrade and re-certify

Don't you just love Micro$oft!!

Retirement? I dont even think my NT4 certs have been 'retired' although I could be wrong

MS Certs as far as i recall dont expire/retire
atleast, at last check they dont

I'm pretty certain that all NT4 MCSE's unless you have taken the upgrade exams have been retired by MS.

Could be wrong though.

NT4 MCSEs are NOT retired. Microsoft originally planned to do so, but after a HUGE outcry by NT4 MCSE folks (not to mention the fact that few MCSEs were choosing to upgrade to the Win2K MCSE at the time), Microsoft decided to create MCSE designations and not retire the NT4 folks. This is why we now have:

MCSE on Windows NT 4
MCSE on Windows 2000
MCSE on Windows 2003

So... exams retire, but certifications never do.

That was my thoughts too mate
i remember all the chatter in '02 about it if i recall correctly

I'm still using Win95 at work Its great

It was late 2001 / early 2002 - That is when I started my courses for MCSE. I was in a class with a South African guy that was an NT4 MCSE and he was totally distraught that Microsoft were going to strip him of his title. He was enrolled on the courses and was being forced to upgrade to Windows 2000. There is a lot of difference between the two, which basically meant the 2 upgrade exams were nigh-on impossible to pass. He coughed up the money for the courses and then Microsoft changed their minds as you say. He was not a happy bunny, he never did get the MCSE on W2K but he did lose heaps of dough.

Not two upgrade exams... ONE upgrade exam. 70-240.

If you thought the beast (70-216) was hard, picture this: a pass/fail exam, approximately one hundred questions, broken down into four sections (questions from 70-210, 70-215, 70-216, 70-217). It was free to MCSEs, but:
- You got ONE shot to pass.
- If you failed any one section, you failed the ENTIRE exam, and it didn't tell you that you failed until the end.
- If you failed the exam, you had no choice but to get your MCSE the old fashioned way... one exam at a time.

And... most people failed. I, my BrainBeacon partner (Josh), and an old co-worker passed the last month the 70-240 exam was available (Dec 01). When Josh went to take it, the front desk receptionist was amazed when his score printed... said that out of dozens of people who had taken the exam that month, only three had passed. That would have been the three of us.

No wonder Microsoft didn't retire the NT4 MCSEs... there'd have been few left!

One exam, duly noted thanks!

Yes and NT4 is still out there 5 years later, so those NT MCSEs have still been of value to the market I am sure.

Even if you didn't have any NT4 servers, and you were responsible for hiring a tech... wouldn't you still prefer a tech with that old-school knowledge? I surely would.

Yes of course, it's that *experience* factor again, coupled with theoretical knowledge which produces the best techs - Clearly someone certified on NT4 is going to have a wealth of experience to fall back on.

I don't see many Novell servers nowadays but the experience I had with them in the past has been of tremendous value to me in getting to grips with Windows kit and networking as a whole. Even though for the most part, my prior seven years experience in the UK was with IPX/SPX and I only touched upon TCP/IP when I set up my own Intranet for the service personnel on an NT4 server way back in '97.

Sorry I am rambling