Windows 2000 Professional Setup Design Goals
Regardless of how advanced an operating system is, an oft-neglected
feature is the capability to set up and deploy it effectively. In an
effort to speed the adoption of Windows 2000 Professional, Microsoft
worked with customers and IT professionals to provide a new framework
for operating system deployment. With the lessons learned
from the existing crop of deployment technologies and methods,
Microsoft began to construct a scalable and flexible deployment
framework.
The setup and installation design goals of the Windows 2000
Professional development team included:
 Simplicity and reliability Ensuring that the operating
system is simple to install and exhibits reliability and
recoverability during installation.
 Deployment friendly Designing the setup process in such
a way that it can be deployed throughout the organization
without extensive technical know-how.
 Customization options Providing flexibility during the
installation process to satisfy the need to tailor operating
systems to the needs of diverse organizations.
 Reduction of deployment time As operating systems have
increased in size and complexity, so has their deployment
time.
 The support of disk duplication Disk imaging has proven
to be a swift and effective deployment technique that is
gaining popularity.
 Automation Ensuring that the installation process can be
fully automated.
 Ease of deployment Providing tools and features to make
the deployment process easier.