The title of this is kind of broad, I really don't know what to put sorry. All this news of replacing XP and companies having to upgrade to future windows versions are making me think...is it really required practice for every single person to do this, should I? I have a computer running windows 2000 server and it's been fine, it still runs a dns and web server well and I also use it to be able to talk with panels (fire alarms some phone ones). What do think, if it ain't broke don't fix it or should I try replacing it with linux? (I already know how to use it and set up stuff, it's just the fact that I will be losing time)

Having XP isn't such a bad deal under some circumstances.

I doubt every person would do this. I suspect they consider a new system with faster everything and get an OS.

If you are able to get updates to W2K and you are happy then don't fix it. Since vital security updates ended 4 years ago, you may consider updating. I could be wrong. Either get a new windows OS or consider a BSD or Linux replacement. Not all tasks windows has can be fully replicated. The server in a domain can be quite effective in a corporate world. If you do simple stuff like web then any top choice linux should be fine.

I would also say security would be the biggest potential problem if there is no longer support. You might try dual booting or getting a second small hard drive (20GB) and installing Linux on it. You would need a light version of Linux due to the age of the computer but there are countless tutorials on installing various Linux systems. I would read a number of them to get an understanding before jumping in.

If you use your computer as server, having it updated and fixed is mandatory.
My suggest is moving to linux. And don't think that you will lose time. Learning new things is always gained time
have fun

Hi,

Look at this Newbie forum sticky; Newbie alert: 50 Open Source Replacements for Windows XP

You can use the following to help too download & verify the ISO image on a Windows/Xp machine;I do suggest that you use a slow burn rate, 4 should provide a valid burn of the ISO image. Please be sure to burn the ISO image.
Hope this helps.

Even though as has been mentioned not all software that runs on Windows will run in Linux, most have counterparts and some distros like SolydXK, Mint, etc are quite easy to make the transition. One cool thing is you can find out for yourself with zero commitment because Linux has many LiveCDs. These are complete operating systems that run from Optical or USB media and make no changes to your existing system. Some, like the ones mentioned above, which include their installers, should you decide to go ahead, are not fully featured Live but give a great idea as to what to expect. You can see the categories HERE.

That said, and especially if you turn off/disable networking until you need it, older systems like Win2K are still pretty viable but there will probably come a time when that will fall off as less and less updates for simple apps and hardware become unavailable.

I will look into setting up and fiddling with Linux. The computer by the way is a Dell Dimension 8100 incase you are interested. I have installed Debian and also CentOS on there (peppermint os, Linux mint) before and it ran fine. For the fun of it I will try running Slackware. The biggest issue is that the computer is connected to various panels such as firewalls, these require proprietary software to operate. If I can get those running under wine then all will be good.

If you have a spare PC, you can try ubuntu server and see if you can replicate what your W2K server does. Ubuntu server has tools such as apache ( web server ) and DNS ( bind ) and many other server functionality.

http://www.ubuntu.com/download/server

Or you can install ubuntu server in a virtual machine if your PC has the resources to spare.

good luck

Always seemed to me that MS OSes were MORE secure when obsolete. Always seemed to me that the majority of malware is kept rather current, and written for what the "average" person is using. I would tend to say "Stick with it, until new peripherals/hardware may be needed, which is no longer compatible"- but....what better time to escape the twisted world of Microsoft, and experience the joy of Linux? ...and to do so before the day comes when you may be forced to switch?