{"slug": "windows-2000", "name": "Windows 2000", "category": "os", "category_name": "Operating systems and desktop", "description": "Microsoft's NT-based operating system for workstations and servers, released in 2000.", "recommenders": 11, "commenters": 13, "warners": 0, "score": 10.961, "rising": 3.04, "first": "2026-03-24", "latest": "2026-10-27", "why": "HN commenters remember it as rock-solid and fast, a clear step up from Windows ME and preferred by some over XP, with an interface that still feels modern.", "why_is_quote": false, "has_verdict": true, "sentiment": {"recommend": 11, "neutral": 2, "compare": 0, "warn": 0}, "spark": [0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 1, 3, 3, 1, 2], "listed": true, "loved": ["Stability", "Better than successors"], "caveat": "No modern apps", "short_quote": "For me Windows 2000 Professional is the best OS that Microsoft ever released.", "icon": false, "domain": null, "github_repo": null, "official_url": "", "pricing": "paid", "aliases": ["Windows 2000"], "verdict": [{"text": "HN commenters remember it as rock-solid and fast,", "cites": [{"id": 786710720, "item_id": 49169420, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49169420", "by": "wing-_-nuts", "date": "2026-08-04", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I remember windows 2000 being pretty rock solid.", "excerpt": "I remember windows 2000 being pretty rock solid. I used it as my gaming os for years while folks struggled with windows me and windows xp (IIRC, xp did eventually become pretty good)", "context": "", "use_case": "gaming OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Xbox goes down. You can't play games you own on disc"}, {"id": 780804480, "item_id": 48800280, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48800280", "by": "protocolture", "date": "2026-07-05", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I used to run Windows 2000 in production and it never gave me even a bit of grief.", "excerpt": "I used to run Windows 2000 in production and it never gave me even a bit of grief. That said, it was mostly just an internet gateway/dhcp server. But gave me less issues than the Win 98 clients.", "context": "", "use_case": "internet gateway/DHCP server", "switched_from": "", "story": "Run Windows 2000 on a DEC Alpha with a new es40 fork"}, {"id": 777410256, "item_id": 48588141, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48588141", "by": "liendolucas", "date": "2026-06-18", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "For me Windows 2000 Professional is the best OS that Microsoft ever released.", "excerpt": "For me Windows 2000 Professional is the best OS that Microsoft ever released. At the time I used it was really polished, stable and fast. One recurring question that I keep asking myself is why UIs have to constantly change for the worse? What would happen if vendors kept using the same UI for decades? Would people hate or love having a one well thought UI?", "context": "", "use_case": "desktop OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "What was nice about the UI of Windows 2000"}, {"id": 804132032, "item_id": 50258252, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50258252", "by": "quacked", "date": "2026-10-27", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "once it booted up, the software was all astonishingly fast (no telemetry) and way, way more \"commandable\" than their modern equivalents.", "excerpt": "I think there's a lot of truth to what you're saying, but a lot of software platforms just can't be customized and mastered like they used to. Things like reorganizing columns, setting shortcuts, menus being consistently organized and accessible using the same command, clickable text and elements looking visually different from unclickable, a wide variety of colors being streamlined to color/pale-color/off-white trio", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Software may be getting worse, but it used to be horrible"}]}, {"text": " a clear step up from Windows ME and preferred by some over XP, with an interface that still feels modern.", "cites": [{"id": 780796256, "item_id": 48799766, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48799766", "by": "mrandish", "date": "2026-07-05", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I went from ME to 2k and it was definitely a big step up.", "excerpt": "> very few people switched from Windows 98 to Windows 2000 I was one of them. I went from ME to 2k and it was definitely a big step up.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "Windows ME", "story": "Run Windows 2000 on a DEC Alpha with a new es40 fork"}, {"id": 798161184, "item_id": 49885074, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49885074", "by": "black_knight", "date": "2026-09-28", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I ran it until I switched to Linux some time in 2004, despite having XP available too.", "excerpt": "I dont even remember now why windows 2000 was superior to XP, but I ran it until I switched to Linux some time in 2004, despite having XP available too. Installed XP on other people\u2019s computers though, FCKGW\u2026", "context": "", "use_case": "desktop OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Windows 11\u00bd"}, {"id": 804041776, "item_id": 50252611, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50252611", "by": "queenkjuul", "date": "2026-10-26", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "98SE/2000 is outrageously modern", "excerpt": "95 feels kinda backwards tbh but 98SE/2000 is outrageously modern. A lot of the windows admin tools are unchanged from 2000 apart from the icons. I really think if you could run a modern browser on 2000 it could be a daily driver for most people", "context": "", "use_case": "desktop operating system", "switched_from": "", "story": "Oldest GUI application that still runs on Windows 11"}, {"id": 777410256, "item_id": 48588141, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48588141", "by": "liendolucas", "date": "2026-06-18", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "For me Windows 2000 Professional is the best OS that Microsoft ever released.", "excerpt": "For me Windows 2000 Professional is the best OS that Microsoft ever released. At the time I used it was really polished, stable and fast. One recurring question that I keep asking myself is why UIs have to constantly change for the worse? What would happen if vendors kept using the same UI for decades? Would people hate or love having a one well thought UI?", "context": "", "use_case": "desktop OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "What was nice about the UI of Windows 2000"}]}, {"text": " The main caveat is that it can't run a modern browser or current applications, which stops people from still using it.", "cites": [{"id": 804041776, "item_id": 50252611, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50252611", "by": "queenkjuul", "date": "2026-10-26", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "98SE/2000 is outrageously modern", "excerpt": "95 feels kinda backwards tbh but 98SE/2000 is outrageously modern. A lot of the windows admin tools are unchanged from 2000 apart from the icons. I really think if you could run a modern browser on 2000 it could be a daily driver for most people", "context": "", "use_case": "desktop operating system", "switched_from": "", "story": "Oldest GUI application that still runs on Windows 11"}, {"id": 780761024, "item_id": 48797564, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48797564", "by": "mysterydip", "date": "2026-07-05", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I daily drove it in the 2000s, and loved it.", "excerpt": "I daily drove it in the 2000s, and loved it. Later I used it for my server VMs due to the small memory footprint and fast remote response. If it supported current applications, I\u2019d still be using it", "context": "", "use_case": "daily driver, server VMs", "switched_from": "", "story": "Run Windows 2000 on a DEC Alpha with a new es40 fork"}]}], "praise": [{"label": "Stability", "summary": "Remembered as rock solid, including in production and compared with Windows ME and 98.", "quotes": [{"id": 786710720, "item_id": 49169420, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49169420", "by": "wing-_-nuts", "date": "2026-08-04", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I remember windows 2000 being pretty rock solid.", "excerpt": "I remember windows 2000 being pretty rock solid. I used it as my gaming os for years while folks struggled with windows me and windows xp (IIRC, xp did eventually become pretty good)", "context": "", "use_case": "gaming OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Xbox goes down. You can't play games you own on disc"}, {"id": 780804480, "item_id": 48800280, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48800280", "by": "protocolture", "date": "2026-07-05", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I used to run Windows 2000 in production and it never gave me even a bit of grief.", "excerpt": "I used to run Windows 2000 in production and it never gave me even a bit of grief. That said, it was mostly just an internet gateway/dhcp server. But gave me less issues than the Win 98 clients.", "context": "", "use_case": "internet gateway/DHCP server", "switched_from": "", "story": "Run Windows 2000 on a DEC Alpha with a new es40 fork"}, {"id": 777410256, "item_id": 48588141, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48588141", "by": "liendolucas", "date": "2026-06-18", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "For me Windows 2000 Professional is the best OS that Microsoft ever released.", "excerpt": "For me Windows 2000 Professional is the best OS that Microsoft ever released. At the time I used it was really polished, stable and fast. One recurring question that I keep asking myself is why UIs have to constantly change for the worse? What would happen if vendors kept using the same UI for decades? Would people hate or love having a one well thought UI?", "context": "", "use_case": "desktop OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "What was nice about the UI of Windows 2000"}]}, {"label": "Better than successors", "summary": "Several preferred it over Windows ME, XP and Windows 11.", "quotes": [{"id": 780796256, "item_id": 48799766, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48799766", "by": "mrandish", "date": "2026-07-05", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I went from ME to 2k and it was definitely a big step up.", "excerpt": "> very few people switched from Windows 98 to Windows 2000 I was one of them. I went from ME to 2k and it was definitely a big step up.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "Windows ME", "story": "Run Windows 2000 on a DEC Alpha with a new es40 fork"}, {"id": 798161184, "item_id": 49885074, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49885074", "by": "black_knight", "date": "2026-09-28", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I ran it until I switched to Linux some time in 2004, despite having XP available too.", "excerpt": "I dont even remember now why windows 2000 was superior to XP, but I ran it until I switched to Linux some time in 2004, despite having XP available too. Installed XP on other people\u2019s computers though, FCKGW\u2026", "context": "", "use_case": "desktop OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Windows 11\u00bd"}, {"id": 789400640, "item_id": 49337540, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49337540", "by": "t0mas88", "date": "2026-08-17", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "in general Windows 2000 was very good", "excerpt": "I agree, the color was great, and also in general Windows 2000 was very good. I used both the desktop and server versions for years. After that Windows XP made me switch to Linux. Since then I've only really used Debian and Mac OS. I recently tried installing Windows 11 on a PC to run some games. The contrast with Windows 2000 is crazy, what a mess. Even just the control panel has three different UI frameworks mixed ", "context": "", "use_case": "desktop and server", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Desktopcolors.com \u2013 A museum for solid background colors of classic OS"}]}, {"label": "Speed", "summary": "Described as fast, with quick remote response and no telemetry.", "quotes": [{"id": 804132032, "item_id": 50258252, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50258252", "by": "quacked", "date": "2026-10-27", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "once it booted up, the software was all astonishingly fast (no telemetry) and way, way more \"commandable\" than their modern equivalents.", "excerpt": "I think there's a lot of truth to what you're saying, but a lot of software platforms just can't be customized and mastered like they used to. Things like reorganizing columns, setting shortcuts, menus being consistently organized and accessible using the same command, clickable text and elements looking visually different from unclickable, a wide variety of colors being streamlined to color/pale-color/off-white trio", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Software may be getting worse, but it used to be horrible"}, {"id": 777410256, "item_id": 48588141, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48588141", "by": "liendolucas", "date": "2026-06-18", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "For me Windows 2000 Professional is the best OS that Microsoft ever released.", "excerpt": "For me Windows 2000 Professional is the best OS that Microsoft ever released. At the time I used it was really polished, stable and fast. One recurring question that I keep asking myself is why UIs have to constantly change for the worse? What would happen if vendors kept using the same UI for decades? Would people hate or love having a one well thought UI?", "context": "", "use_case": "desktop OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "What was nice about the UI of Windows 2000"}, {"id": 780761024, "item_id": 48797564, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48797564", "by": "mysterydip", "date": "2026-07-05", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I daily drove it in the 2000s, and loved it.", "excerpt": "I daily drove it in the 2000s, and loved it. Later I used it for my server VMs due to the small memory footprint and fast remote response. If it supported current applications, I\u2019d still be using it", "context": "", "use_case": "daily driver, server VMs", "switched_from": "", "story": "Run Windows 2000 on a DEC Alpha with a new es40 fork"}]}, {"label": "Consistent UI", "summary": "Praised as polished, highly controllable and still modern, with admin tools that have barely changed since.", "quotes": [{"id": 804132032, "item_id": 50258252, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50258252", "by": "quacked", "date": "2026-10-27", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "once it booted up, the software was all astonishingly fast (no telemetry) and way, way more \"commandable\" than their modern equivalents.", "excerpt": "I think there's a lot of truth to what you're saying, but a lot of software platforms just can't be customized and mastered like they used to. Things like reorganizing columns, setting shortcuts, menus being consistently organized and accessible using the same command, clickable text and elements looking visually different from unclickable, a wide variety of colors being streamlined to color/pale-color/off-white trio", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Software may be getting worse, but it used to be horrible"}, {"id": 804041776, "item_id": 50252611, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50252611", "by": "queenkjuul", "date": "2026-10-26", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "98SE/2000 is outrageously modern", "excerpt": "95 feels kinda backwards tbh but 98SE/2000 is outrageously modern. A lot of the windows admin tools are unchanged from 2000 apart from the icons. I really think if you could run a modern browser on 2000 it could be a daily driver for most people", "context": "", "use_case": "desktop operating system", "switched_from": "", "story": "Oldest GUI application that still runs on Windows 11"}, {"id": 777410256, "item_id": 48588141, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48588141", "by": "liendolucas", "date": "2026-06-18", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "For me Windows 2000 Professional is the best OS that Microsoft ever released.", "excerpt": "For me Windows 2000 Professional is the best OS that Microsoft ever released. At the time I used it was really polished, stable and fast. One recurring question that I keep asking myself is why UIs have to constantly change for the worse? What would happen if vendors kept using the same UI for decades? Would people hate or love having a one well thought UI?", "context": "", "use_case": "desktop OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "What was nice about the UI of Windows 2000"}]}, {"label": "Small footprint", "summary": "One commenter used it for server VMs because of its small memory footprint.", "quotes": [{"id": 780761024, "item_id": 48797564, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48797564", "by": "mysterydip", "date": "2026-07-05", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I daily drove it in the 2000s, and loved it.", "excerpt": "I daily drove it in the 2000s, and loved it. Later I used it for my server VMs due to the small memory footprint and fast remote response. If it supported current applications, I\u2019d still be using it", "context": "", "use_case": "daily driver, server VMs", "switched_from": "", "story": "Run Windows 2000 on a DEC Alpha with a new es40 fork"}]}], "caveats": [{"label": "No modern apps", "summary": "It can't run current applications or a modern browser, so it is no longer practical as a daily driver.", "quotes": [{"id": 804041776, "item_id": 50252611, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50252611", "by": "queenkjuul", "date": "2026-10-26", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "98SE/2000 is outrageously modern", "excerpt": "95 feels kinda backwards tbh but 98SE/2000 is outrageously modern. A lot of the windows admin tools are unchanged from 2000 apart from the icons. I really think if you could run a modern browser on 2000 it could be a daily driver for most people", "context": "", "use_case": "desktop operating system", "switched_from": "", "story": "Oldest GUI application that still runs on Windows 11"}, {"id": 780761024, "item_id": 48797564, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48797564", "by": "mysterydip", "date": "2026-07-05", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I daily drove it in the 2000s, and loved it.", "excerpt": "I daily drove it in the 2000s, and loved it. Later I used it for my server VMs due to the small memory footprint and fast remote response. If it supported current applications, I\u2019d still be using it", "context": "", "use_case": "daily driver, server VMs", "switched_from": "", "story": "Run Windows 2000 on a DEC Alpha with a new es40 fork"}]}], "who": [], "tags": ["for servers", "for gaming", "for legacy hardware tooling"], "use_cases": ["desktop os", "desktop operating system", "running cross-compiler", "desktop and server", "gaming os", "workstation os"], "compared": [{"slug": "windows-xp", "name": "Windows XP", "co": 4, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "windows-7", "name": "Windows 7", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "windows-vista", "name": "Windows Vista", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48794302", "title": "Run Windows 2000 on a DEC Alpha with a new es40 fork", "mentions": 4}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50257548", "title": "Software may be getting worse, but it used to be horrible", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50248055", "title": "Oldest GUI application that still runs on Windows 11", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49881747", "title": "Windows 11\u00bd", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49848955", "title": "Ask HN: Who's still keeping a DOS machine up because the business depends on it?", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49327643", "title": "Show HN: Desktopcolors.com \u2013 A museum for solid background colors of classic OS", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {}, "2025-12": {}, "2026-01": {}, "2026-02": {}, "2026-03": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-04": {}, "2026-05": {}, "2026-06": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-07": {"recommend": 3, "neutral": 1}, "2026-08": {"recommend": 3}, "2026-09": {"neutral": 1, "recommend": 1}, "2026-10": {"recommend": 2}}, "quotes": [{"id": 804132032, "item_id": 50258252, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50258252", "by": "quacked", "date": "2026-10-27", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "once it booted up, the software was all astonishingly fast (no telemetry) and way, way more \"commandable\" than their modern equivalents.", "excerpt": "I think there's a lot of truth to what you're saying, but a lot of software platforms just can't be customized and mastered like they used to. Things like reorganizing columns, setting shortcuts, menus being consistently organized and accessible using the same command, clickable text and elements looking visually different from unclickable, a wide variety of colors being streamlined to color/pale-color/off-white trio", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Software may be getting worse, but it used to be horrible"}, {"id": 804041776, "item_id": 50252611, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50252611", "by": "queenkjuul", "date": "2026-10-26", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "98SE/2000 is outrageously modern", "excerpt": "95 feels kinda backwards tbh but 98SE/2000 is outrageously modern. A lot of the windows admin tools are unchanged from 2000 apart from the icons. I really think if you could run a modern browser on 2000 it could be a daily driver for most people", "context": "", "use_case": "desktop operating system", "switched_from": "", "story": "Oldest GUI application that still runs on Windows 11"}, {"id": 798161184, "item_id": 49885074, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49885074", "by": "black_knight", "date": "2026-09-28", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I ran it until I switched to Linux some time in 2004, despite having XP available too.", "excerpt": "I dont even remember now why windows 2000 was superior to XP, but I ran it until I switched to Linux some time in 2004, despite having XP available too. Installed XP on other people\u2019s computers though, FCKGW\u2026", "context": "", "use_case": "desktop OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Windows 11\u00bd"}, {"id": 797743906, "item_id": 49858994, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49858994", "by": "stevetron", "date": "2026-09-26", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "A third computer under Windows 2000 ran a 68HC11 cross-compiler that didn't require a dongle.", "excerpt": "I wouldn't call them business-critical computers, but I do have about 3-4 computers under one of my workbenches dedicated to certain work I did for a client. One of them has an EPROM programmer set-up, which includes a custom ISA-card, and a ribbon cable to an external box with a ZIF-socket. The software for that requires MS-DOS. To network that box, which is a 486SX, I run WFWG 3.11. Since these never go on the ente", "context": "", "use_case": "running cross-compiler", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Who's still keeping a DOS machine up because the business depends on it?"}, {"id": 789400640, "item_id": 49337540, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49337540", "by": "t0mas88", "date": "2026-08-17", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "in general Windows 2000 was very good", "excerpt": "I agree, the color was great, and also in general Windows 2000 was very good. I used both the desktop and server versions for years. After that Windows XP made me switch to Linux. Since then I've only really used Debian and Mac OS. I recently tried installing Windows 11 on a PC to run some games. The contrast with Windows 2000 is crazy, what a mess. Even just the control panel has three different UI frameworks mixed ", "context": "", "use_case": "desktop and server", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Desktopcolors.com \u2013 A museum for solid background colors of classic OS"}, {"id": 786710720, "item_id": 49169420, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49169420", "by": "wing-_-nuts", "date": "2026-08-04", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I remember windows 2000 being pretty rock solid.", "excerpt": "I remember windows 2000 being pretty rock solid. I used it as my gaming os for years while folks struggled with windows me and windows xp (IIRC, xp did eventually become pretty good)", "context": "", "use_case": "gaming OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Xbox goes down. You can't play games you own on disc"}, {"id": 786218224, "item_id": 49138639, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49138639", "by": "rubyn00bie", "date": "2026-08-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "If it wasn\u2019t for Win2k and ISS I probably wouldn\u2019t have ever become a software engineer.", "excerpt": "Can confirm. It was the first OS I ever pirated (technically it was the Data Center edition, I bought off of some dude on a forum via a money order I sent him[1], because my internet was so slow 28.8k). I was trying to get a system that wouldn\u2019t BSOD and had heard how reliable NT 4 was before it so I downloaded it\u2026 and the kid with the coolest[2] Dragon Ball Z website was using ASP to serve it. I ran the DC edition a", "context": "", "use_case": "desktop OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Google News is just Forrest Gump's shrimp boat now"}, {"id": 780824688, "item_id": 48801543, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48801543", "by": "pjmlp", "date": "2026-07-06", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I actually used the server SKU as workstation OS", "excerpt": "I did, but I was already trying to use Windows NT at home as well. At work Windows 2000 was quite common, however I actually used the server SKU as workstation OS. As I used to be big into UNIX in the early 2000's, I used to dual boot between it and Red-Hat, eventually I got fed up dual booting all the time depending on the project work, or client support, and ended up using Windows, alongside Humming Bird X Server t", "context": "", "use_case": "workstation OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Run Windows 2000 on a DEC Alpha with a new es40 fork"}, {"id": 780804480, "item_id": 48800280, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48800280", "by": "protocolture", "date": "2026-07-05", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I used to run Windows 2000 in production and it never gave me even a bit of grief.", "excerpt": "I used to run Windows 2000 in production and it never gave me even a bit of grief. That said, it was mostly just an internet gateway/dhcp server. But gave me less issues than the Win 98 clients.", "context": "", "use_case": "internet gateway/DHCP server", "switched_from": "", "story": "Run Windows 2000 on a DEC Alpha with a new es40 fork"}, {"id": 780796256, "item_id": 48799766, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48799766", "by": "mrandish", "date": "2026-07-05", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I went from ME to 2k and it was definitely a big step up.", "excerpt": "> very few people switched from Windows 98 to Windows 2000 I was one of them. I went from ME to 2k and it was definitely a big step up.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "Windows ME", "story": "Run Windows 2000 on a DEC Alpha with a new es40 fork"}, {"id": 780761024, "item_id": 48797564, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48797564", "by": "mysterydip", "date": "2026-07-05", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I daily drove it in the 2000s, and loved it.", "excerpt": "I daily drove it in the 2000s, and loved it. Later I used it for my server VMs due to the small memory footprint and fast remote response. If it supported current applications, I\u2019d still be using it", "context": "", "use_case": "daily driver, server VMs", "switched_from": "", "story": "Run Windows 2000 on a DEC Alpha with a new es40 fork"}, {"id": 777410256, "item_id": 48588141, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48588141", "by": "liendolucas", "date": "2026-06-18", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "For me Windows 2000 Professional is the best OS that Microsoft ever released.", "excerpt": "For me Windows 2000 Professional is the best OS that Microsoft ever released. At the time I used it was really polished, stable and fast. One recurring question that I keep asking myself is why UIs have to constantly change for the worse? What would happen if vendors kept using the same UI for decades? Would people hate or love having a one well thought UI?", "context": "", "use_case": "desktop OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "What was nice about the UI of Windows 2000"}, {"id": 760031552, "item_id": 47501972, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47501972", "by": "oldandboring", "date": "2026-03-24", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Windows 2000 was game-changing. One of the best OS releases of all time.", "excerpt": "Today's reminder of how old I'm getting: this is totally predictable. Microsoft has been doing this for 30 years. Disclaimer: I'm aware of these things and have used most of them, but really none as a daily driver since Windows 2000. So I'm probably leaving some stuff out. Windows 95 and 98 were great releases. Windows ME was so bad they scrapped the Win9x codebase entirely. Windows 2000 was game-changing. One of the", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Microsoft's \"Fix\" for Windows 11: Flowers After the Beating"}]}