[482] in winnt
Update on Windows 2000 at MIT
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Jonathan McIndoe Hunt)
Thu Feb 17 09:38:48 2000
Message-Id: <4.2.2.20000217093627.03e27380@po12.mit.edu>
Date: Thu, 17 Feb 2000 09:37:55 -0500
To: infosys@mit.edu, itpartners@mit.edu, ntpartners@mit.edu
From: Jonathan McIndoe Hunt <jmhunt@MIT.EDU>
Mime-Version: 1.0
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Microsoft officially released Windows 2000 Professional, Server and
Advanced Server today.
IS has been testing Windows 2000 in the MIT environment for the past
several months and is aiming to provide support for Windows 2000
Professional, the workstation equivalent, by late March.
We have scheduled an ITPartners Luncheon on March 8 dedicated to Windows
2000 at MIT. IS recommends that people wait until after the March 8
meeting to begin any upgrades to Windows 2000 Professional. At that time
we hope to have CDs and documentation available. In the meantime, if you
would like to help out with testing, please send email to
win2k-test-request@mit.edu.
For up to date information on Windows 2000 at MIT and the results of the
testing so far, please see <http://web.mit.edu/is/help/win2000/>.
Information Systems does not intend to support the use of Windows 2000
Domain Controllers on MITnet during the next several months.
Misconfiguration of a Windows 2000 Domain Controller can lead to a denial
of service for other users of the network. Windows 2000 Domain Controllers
that cause a problem for users will be disconnected from the network. For
more information, please see <http://web.mit.edu/is/help/win2000/nodc.html>.
Here are a few of the reasons to wait before installing Windows 2000 on a
production machine:
-Windows 2000 is the largest, most complicated operating system that any
vendor has released. Microsoft has already released one security related
HotFix. It appears that the first Service Pack has already been scheduled
for June of 2000. One recent report claims that there are already 63,000
potential defects known to Microsoft. Consider letting others experience
the pain of a new operating system unless you have the time and patience to
be an early adopter.
-Windows 2000 includes some major look and feel changes from Windows NT
4.0. Administration of machines has changed significantly. Departments
should plan for retraining before attempting an upgrade. During testing we
have witnessed experienced NT 4.0 system administrators taking over an hour
to complete a task that they knew how to perform under NT 4.0 in less than
10 minutes.
-CDs will be available soon for Institute owned machines. More information
will appear <http://web.mit.edu/is/products/vsls/mitnt/> as it becomes
available.
-Microsoft's Kerberos implementation in Windows 2000 does not interoperate
with the MIT implementation out of the box. MIT is working with Microsoft
to resolve several of the outstanding problems. Hopefully these will be
addressed in the June Service Pack.
- A Gartner report has said that migration from Windows NT 4.0 to Windows
2000 Professional may cost $1,250 to $2,050 per desktop, while migration
from Windows 9x can cost $2,015 to $3,100 per desktop. There are many
factors that the report considered and many people disagree with their
findings, however early adopters are likely to incur a higher cost than
those who wait.
In hopes to alleviate some of these headaches, IS is working to provide
documentation and training for Windows 2000. Training announcements will
be forth coming.
In summary, IS suggests that you wait until after the March 8th ITPartners
Luncheon to begin moving to Windows 2000 client machines.
____________________________________
Jonathan M. Hunt
Information Systems
E40-335 x3-0172
http://web.mit.edu/is/
