When you compare the early pre-beta releases of Whistler--the next version of Windows 2000--with the first beta release of its predecessor, it's easy to see to difference. Unlike Windows 2000 (then called NT 5.0) Beta 1, Whistler is just bursting with usabilty, and even at this early stage, it's already apparent that the Whistler team is much, much further along then they were at the same point with Windows 2000.

Whistler is a work in progress, and Microsoft has been working on this product since before the release of Windows 2000. The first external releases of the product, builds 2211 and 2223.1, were previewed here back in April. These builds featured a couple of simplicity improvements from Windows Me, new Explorer view options, and a Neptune-inspired logon, but not much else. The first Preview release of Whistler, Build 2250, was released in mid-July and was also examined on the SuperSite. The Whistler Preview featured an early look at its new Themes-based "skinnable" user interface and many more refinements. Finally, in late August, Microsoft released the final Whistler preview, build 2257, before Beta 1, which is due in October.

Whistler Build 2257 ships in Personal, Professional, Server, and Advanced Server editions. This preview will examine all of these editions, and discuss some of the changes since the previous release.

Whistler Setup
Whistler Setup is currently in a bizarre halfway house between the Setup programs used by Windows 2000 (ancient) and Windows Me (modern, but low-res). As such, it features the same basic steps as Windows 2000 Setup, but includes the ugly DOS-based screens from Windows Me, along with the text from Windows Me Setup ("Windows Movie Maker makes it easy to..."), which is particularly hilarious when you're installing Advanced Server. Obviously, this will change.