10 Ways to Tell That You’re an NT Veteran

You're a Windows NT Veteran if You . . .
1 ... received the first issue of this magazine 10 years ago this month. It included an interview with Microsoft's then–Director of Windows NT, Bob Muglia (now senior vice president, Windows Server Division). Today, at the dawn of 64-bit computing, Muglia's comments about the rise of 32-bit computing elicit a bit of déjà vu.

2 ... know that it's still and always NT—no matter what name Microsoft decides to impose on its server OS. (And despite this publication's past Microsoft-inspired name changes, we're still Windows NT Magazine at heart and still focused on you, the Windows IT pro.)

3 ... remember when NT ran on four hardware platforms: x86, MIPS, PowerPC, and Alpha. NT was supposed to be the answer to proprietary hardware and OSs. In the 1995 interview, Muglia commented about NT competing with UNIX and talked about "proprietary architectures, or proprietary-use versions." Ironically, he went on to state, "That sort of computing is dead," blissfully unaware that Linux advocates would soon be saying similar things about Windows.

4 ... sometimes ponder the long-awaited but never-realized "Cairo" version of Windows. Have you ever considered that Windows XP finally marked the convergence of NT and consumer Windows? Mark Minasi sometimes recounts a plausible rumor that XP actually received that moniker because the letters X and P resemble the Greek letters chi and rho, thus producing Windows Chi-rho! (And since I'm mentioning Mark, I'd like to thank him for his key role with this magazine. His first article appeared in October 1995.)

5 ... recall Mark Russinovich's explosive 1996 article, "Inside the Difference Between Windows NT Workstation and Windows NT Server," which exposed the fact that by twiddling a few bits, you could turn NT Workstation into NT Server.

6 ... looked forward to the launch of SQL Server 7.0 and SQL Server Magazine back in March 1999. Now, on the eve of SQL Server 2005's launch, SQL Server Magazine continues to be the predominant source of practical articles and events that cover business intelligence (BI), database development, and database administration.

7 ... eagerly awaited NT 5.0 Beta 1, which shipped in May 1998, and then were outraged to learn that there would be no "NT 5.0." Instead, Microsoft decided to change the product's name to Windows 2000 (Win2K), reflecting the year the OS finally shipped.

8 ... survived Y2K only to endure the bursting Internet bubble and its devastating effect on our industry.

9 ... are enjoying Microsoft's rekindled commitment to IT pros. This newfound enthusiasm is connected with Mark Smith's industry-shaking January 2003 editorial "The Soul of Windows." (Speaking of Mark's influence on this industry, I want to honor him as the founder of this magazine. Let me also acknowledge the leadership and vision of our current publisher, Kim Paulsen.)

10 ... think "Vista" is another demonstration of Microsoft's inability to name products. Although we put on our cynical face when Vista comes up, we still look forward to NT's next era. I know that's true because whenever Paul Thurrott (who joined the magazine in 1999) writes about Longhorn/Vista, traffic on our Web sites skyrockets.

Our NT Vets
Limiting that list to 10 items didn't allow me to mention all of our veteran contributors. Foremost among them is Michael Otey, our indispensable technical director. Mike has been crucial to us since our first issue. Special thanks go to the editors who've been with us since the earliest days and are still writing: Dr. Bob Chronister and Brian Moran (since November 1995), Mark Joseph Edwards (September 1996), Darren Mar-Elia and Doug Toombs (November 1996), Christa Anderson and Sean Deuby (December 1996), Tony Redmond (April 1997), Sue Mosher and Jerry Cochran (April 1998), Randy Franklin Smith (October 1998), and David Chernicoff (November 1998).

Diamonds to Celebrate
This tenth anniversary issue features our annual Readers' Choice awards, highlighting the products you recognize as most useful. This focus lets us acknowledge the vendors who have grown with the industry by supplementing Microsoft's products and helping you solve problems. In addition, our technical features this month celebrate our 10 years by giving you 10 ways to make your job easier.

Most of all, I want to celebrate you, our readers, veteran and new. Thank you for reading and supporting this magazine over the past 10 years.